Blackpool wants to transform its downmarket image

The council is pinning its regeneration hopes on turning the town into a Las Vegas-style casino resort.

The report on the draft Gambling Bill warns updating the law may lead to an increase in problem gambling.

But the council believes the report takes on board many of the comments it made to a parliamentary delegation who visited the resort last year.

Reading the report it is like reading our own words Alan Cavill, Blackpool Council

"The joint committee has successfully balanced modernisation of the legislation with the need to protect the vulnerable and maximise the positive benefits of the new investment that will follow," said council leader Roy Fisher.

The joint committee called for careful monitoring of its impact, and restrictions on the development of Vegas-style super-casinos.

It says casino resorts should only be opened in areas of high unemployment.

Machine limit

Alan Cavill, the council's Head of Economic Development, said with unemployment at 11% - three times the national average - the resort needed regeneration.

"Reading the report it is like reading our own words. The only thing we are slightly puzzled with is the restriction in the number of slot machines.

"We can accept the principle but would argue over the numbers."

The cross-party committee, of peers and MPs, also urged the establishment of an industry-funded trust providing research, education and treatment for problem gamblers as a "crucial counterbalance" to deregulation.

Cautious welcome

"We are very pleased that the committee has recognised the importance of controlling the siting of the larger, resort-style casinos to ensure that they deliver regeneration benefits to areas most in need," said Councillor Fisher.

But opponents of the move also gave a cautious welcome to the report.

Councillor Steven Bate of the Coalition Against Gambling Expansion said campaigners would be studying the report in detail.