The Gambling Act recently passed by Parliament will allow three new types of casinos to operate in Britain. One “regional casino” will be permitted, along with eight large and eight small casinos.

The regional casino will have a minimum total customer area of 5,000 m², and be permitted up to 1,250 Category A unlimited jackpot gaming machines. Large casinos will have a minimum total customer area of 1,500 m², and be permitted up to 150 Category B gaming machines, with a maximum jackpot of £4,000. Small casinos will have a minimum total customer area of 750m², and be permitted up to 80 Category B gaming machines, with a maximum jackpot of £4,000. The one regional and eight large casinos will be permitted to offer bingo, and all three categories will be permitted to offer betting.

The Government expects that a regional casino will be a major development, offering clear potential for regeneration. It will provide not just a range of gambling activities, but may include hotel accommodation, conference facilities, restaurants, bars, areas for live entertainment and other leisure attractions.

The Advisory Panel’s task will be to recommend to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the areas where the one regional casino and eight large and eight small casinos would best be located. The primary criterion, as laid down by the Secretary of State is:

• to ensure that locations satisfy the need for the best possible test of social impact (which may require a range of locations of different kinds such as seaside resorts, edge of town developments or inner city centres);

Subject to that, the Secretary of State has also asked the Panel;

• to include areas in need of regeneration (as measured by unemployment and other social deprivation data) and which are likely to benefit in these terms from a new casino;
• to ensure that those areas selected are willing to license a new casino.
  

All the proposals received can be found on this site.

The Panel has been asked to provide its recommendations to the Secretary of State by the end of 2006.

More information can also be found under the 'What's New' section.