SWINDON'S bid for a £10m casino to transform a deprived area of the town has been rejected.

The Government's Casino Advisory Panel yesterday turned down the council's application for a licence.

The development would have created up to 800 jobs.

Earmarked sites included the Exchange and Promenade developments, Sussex Square, the Gorse Hill district centre, Swindon FC's County Ground and the Abbey Stadium at Blunsdon.

Swindon Council was one of 41 local authorities in the running for one of 16 new casinos to be licensed nationally.

It wanted a small casino boasting up to 80 slot machines with £4,000 jackpots.

But the town's plans have been left off a shortlist of 31 local authorities which are competing for eight small casino licenses and eight large casino licenses.

Bath and North East Somerset, which has applied for a large casino, is the only south west council to have made the shortlist.

The panel yesterday declined to discuss the reasons for rejecting individual bids.

But the chairman of the panel, Professor Stephen Crow, said: "I know that our decisions will cause disappointment to some, not least to authorities who had looked to their casino proposal as a means of alleviating severe problems of deprivation or even improving social conditions and meeting the need for economic regeneration.

"But the competition has been very strong and so it is inevitable that some proposals, good enough though they may be in themselves, have to yield before more powerfully justified cases."

Eight urban areas Blackpool, Brent, Cardiff, Glasgow, Greenwich, Manchester, Newcastle,and Sheffield have now been shortlisted to land a Las Vegas-style regional casino" which would have up to 1,250 unlimited jackpot machines.

Under the controversial Gambling Act, all kinds of new casinos small, large and regional will be bigger than most of Britain's existing 125 casinos.

Earlier this month, the Adver revealed how the council had been in detailed talks with three casino operators Gambling International Plc, Stanley Casinos and Harbour House Casino Ltd.

The companies identified the town as a perfect location in which to expand their own gambling empires.

The council believes an £8m to £10m development would have created 200 jobs inside the casino and 600 jobs indirectly.

  • These are the areas which are still in the running for a large or small casino: Bath and North East Somerset; Bournemouth; Brighton; Canterbury; Chelmsford; Dartford; Dudley; Dumfries and Galloway; East Lindsey; Great Yarmouth; Hastings; Hull; Leeds; Leicester; Luton; Mansfield; Middlesbrough; Milton Keynes; Newham; North East Lincolnshire; Peterborough; Restormel (in south Cornwall); Scarborough; Sefton; Solihull; Southampton; South Tyneside; Swansea; Thurrock; Torbay; Wolverhampton.

Great News - Gamblers' Anonymous

A MEMBER of Swindon Gamblers' Anonymous, said: "Speaking from a personal point of view, I think it's great news that Swindon won't be getting a casino.

"My particular vice wasn't casinos, but I have seen the effect that casinos can have on a compulsive gambler.

"I believe that having a casino in Swindon would only have accentuated the town's gambling culture and I know from experience the damaging consequences it could have had on the lives of gamblers in Swindon.

"I'm glad these half cocked plans from the council have been thrown out because we don't need a casino here in Swindon and I would like to thank the Government for removing a possible temptation from my life."

Disappointing - Swindon Council

Swindon Council leader Roderick Bluh was disappointed the town had missed out.

But he said the council had never pinned its hopes on getting a casino and is continuing to look for night-time attractions for the town.

Coun Bluh said: "We put in the bid to keep open the door on a bid. Obviously we are disappointed we have missed out.

"There are strong views on this one. I don't think it's a big loss but it's something we could have added to the mix.

"It was never in the forefront of our thinking."

Coun Bluh did not rule out applying for casino permission in any future rounds of licences but said there would be a public debate before any move was made.

"We would have to have a debate before we did it again," he said.

"There's a world of difference between an upmarket casino where people who can afford it throw their money away to one in an area where people can't afford it."