Manchester trumped both main favourites Blackpool and Greenwich to win the recommendation from the Casino Advisory Panel (CAP) for Britain’s first super-casino. The decision came as a surprise to most people, not least the hotly tipped Blackpool and Greenwich bid teams, one of which was expected to win. Manchester, along with other potentials Cardiff, Glasgow, Newcastle and Sheffield were all seen as rank outsiders and none were expected to be recommended as the choice site for the new casino.
The super-casino’s planned building location is in the east of the city, close to the City of Manchester stadium and would be 5,000 square metres in size whilst containing bars and a nightclub amongst other things. This area was also where several events of the successful 2002 Commonwealth games were held, another factor which may have swayed the CAP towards Manchester being the choice. The group behind Manchester's bid plan a £265 million pound investment into the project, hoping to create around 2,700 jobs in the process.
Elsewhere, several towns and cities picked up licenses for large casinos (minimum customer area of 1,000 sq m and up to 150 slot machines with a maximum jackpot of £4,000), these were:
- Great Yarmouth
- Hull
- Leeds
- Middlesbrough
- Milton Keynes
- Newham
- Solihull
- Southampton
Whilst another group picked a license for smaller casinos. (minimum customer area of 750 sq m, up to 80 slot machines and a jackpot of £4,000):
- Bath
- North East Somerset
- Dumfries
- Galloway
- East Lindsey
- Luton
- Scarborough
- Swansea
- Torbay
- Wolverhampton