Super Casino Manchester Wins – Or Does It?
The news this week that the Super Casino is to be in Manchester certainly came as a surprise. To adopt the gambling phraseology, the clever money seemed to be on either the London Dome (though potential accusations of Prescott favouritism might have done for this bid) or Blackpool. Cardiff had its bid too.
I have always been somewhat uneasy about Super Casinos. Whilst not blind to some of the economic benefits that may arise, I have always felt uneasy about the potential damage to vulnerable people from excess betting and some of the attendant problems that casinos seem to attract.
The Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell (the most Blairite of Ministers) has been at pain to stress that a Super Casino would be in no way like Las Vegas. I find that unconvincing. Rows and rows of one-armed bandits and gaming machines seem to me all too like Las Vegas.
It must also be questioned whether this pilot scheme for a Super Casino in Manchester to test whether the social problems that have been talked about are real problems is a questionable siting. To put a Super Casino in such a poor area of Manchester where there are many vulnerable people seems to me to be asking for trouble.
Clearly we must examine the pilot to see how it runs and to map the progress or otherwise of other larger and smaller casinos throughout the country.
It used to be said that the Labour Party owed more to Methodism than Marks. These days it seems to owe more to Rupert Murdoch than Methodism.
