Sunday, February 04, 2007

MANCHESTER has beaten off the more fancied Blackpool and Greenwich in the
race to host the UK's first Las Vegas-style super casino. Scarborough and
Leeds are to get smaller casinos too. Altogether, there will be 17 new
gambling houses built across the country. But where does yesterday's
announcement leave York's chances of one day having its own casino? And will
the new wave of casinos lead to a surge in gambling addiction and associated
problems? A casino for York? YORK could still be in the running for a new
casino in a few years time - and the city would be an obvious place to have
one, a local businessman insisted today. York did not apply to be among the
17 cities whose new casinos were announced yesterday. If it had, believes
Scarborough businessman Don Robinson, who is behind plans to turn the
derelict ikon & Diva nightclub at Clifton Moor into a casino, it would have
been a shoe-in. "York used to be all chocolate factories. Now it is
Britain's third biggest tourist destination after London and Edinburgh," Mr
Robinson said. "It will boom over the next ten to 20 years with ever more
tourists coming. It has the racecourse, the shopping malls on the outskirts,
the latest leisure facilities and hotels being built. It is an obvious place
for a casino."
The next wave of casino licences is likely to be announced within two or
three years, Mr Robinson said. "And I think York will be in the forefront
then. If the city council had applied for a casino licence this time, I'm
sure they would have got one." The ruling Liberal Democrats in York are
famously ambivalent about whether a casino would be good for the city. They
stopped short of passing a "no casino" resolution which would have slammed
the door for good on the idea, but applying for a casino licence in this
first wave of new casinos was never on the cards. So might the council
reconsider in future? The council's deputy leader Andrew Waller is,
personally, opposed to a casino, but left the door on a future bid
cautiously open today. "I'm sure there will be some members who are hoping
for it and there will be others like myself who don't see that," he said.
The next round of applications would not be due for about three years, he
said. "We will have the debate again then." Labour appears more keen on a
casino for York. Scarborough's recently-opened Opera House Casino had
definitely been good news for the town, said York Labour councillor Paul
Blanchard.

"We would need to take all the facts into full consideration and York
residents must have a say in any application," he said.

"But if the local community supports the idea, I think York could benefit
greatly from having a casino.

"York is a historic city that relies on tourism. A casino would create jobs
and draw in a new kind of visitor, one who likes to gamble and be
entertained.

"Gambling already exists in the city - betting offices, amusement arcades
and even in internet cafes. A casino provides facilities to gamble in a
strictly controlled and regulated environment. It could be a great source of
revenue and additional visitors.

"But there has to be a full debate as to whether the residents of York want
it. The main concern really is the necessary steps to ensure that any
gambling in the city would not be a source of crime, disorder or antisocial
behaviour. Children and other vulnerable people should also be protected
from being harmed or exploited by gambling."

The city may have already missed the boat, warns Neil Horwell, one of the
businessmen behind proposals for an £8 million casino and leisure complex
off Foss Islands road.

Mr Horwell said he and his associates would push ahead with their plans.
"But realistically, I think City of York Council has been so slow in
recognising the need for a casino they have let the ship leave the harbour,"
he said.

That was a wasted opportunity, he said. York without a casino was "like not
having a racecourse".