Not so super for Casinos

Author: Simon Dexter

The long running supercasino saga took another dramatic turn in July, when Gordon Brown indicated the plans to build the first of its kind in Manchester could be scrapped.

The story began in 2003 when the government announced that a raft of all-singing all-dancing casinos would be built by 2008.

However, after consultation and strong objections, the decision was made to allow just one supercasino to be built with Manchester named as the preferred site for the new casino (controversially beating London and Blackpool). Those bidding for the casino had to prove it would bring regeneration to the area.

Brown’s announcement has been seen as a u-turn on a policy advocated by his predecessor Tony Blair and it has also been suggested that Brown is morally opposed to gambling. However, in essence his decision revolves around the question of how much regeneration to a run-down area the building of a casino could make.

Although the building of such a venue would create jobs in the short term, the mechanics of such projects usually means workers are brought in from outside the region on a contract basis. The jobs created in the casinos tend to be low-paid unskilled work and while the presence of such an establishment would have some effect on the area, the long-term benefits are questionable.

Particularly in the United States, the building of casinos has been seen as a good way of raising local taxes, with the ban on all forms of online gambling helping such ventures from competition.

So it remains to be seen whether the building of Manchester’s supercasino will be allowed to take place and it also puts into doubt whether other cities will be able to establish their planned gambling houses.

It is possible that in the future it will only be the online casinos that are allowed to flourish but with more and more of them moving overseas to avoid paying high taxes, the government may just have shot themselves in the foot and lost a useful source of revenue.

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