Senior British Cabinet ministers have joined forces to derail plans to open up to 250 super-casinos across the UK.
Only days after the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, published a new Gambling Bill that would introduce hundreds of Las Vegas-style casinos across the country, she is being forced into a humiliating climbdown by a pincer operation from Chancellor (finance minister) Gordon Brown and deputy PM John Prescott.
In a clear indication of outright Cabinet hostility to the bill, a key confidante of the Chancellor heavily criticized Jowell's proposals this weekend as "not well thought through." It is now believed there will be no more than 20 of the super-casinos with fruit machines offering ?1 million (US$1,8 million) jackpots.
"There is no public demand for this," said the senior Treasury official. "In fact ,the opposite seems to be the case."
Prescott is now planning to make a dramatic intervention to significantly water down the bill which has caused widespread consternation among MPs and religious leaders who argue that it will increase problem gambling. A concerted media campaign against the plans over the past week has raised concerns within government that the moves have misjudged the public mood.
There are fears that Britain could see over 250 casinos if the Bill is passed as it currently stand,s along with 100,000 slot machines offering massive jackpots.
There is also acute concern at the prospect of the public allowed to drink alcohol at gaming tables.
Prescott will use planning laws to block applications from casinos. "He is very cautious about this," said one of Prescott's key advisers. "He sees no regeneration benefits in hundreds of casinos.
"There are places like Blackpool where it's hard to see an alternative rescue strategy other than the introduction of large entertainment complexes, but proliferation in Britain is not going to happen."
"People feel this is unacceptable and that's the real worry," said Frank Field, a prominent back-bench Labour MP. "Given the problems our supporters are having justifying the war, this is the last thing that's needed."
The government's decision to back down on its proposals will anger gambling industry bosses who are poised to invest ?5 billion on a series of massive gambling dens, according to research from leading consultant, Ernst & Young.
Las Vegas gambling companies have already spent over ?100 million on political lobby firms to persuade MPs to back the proposal.
Jowell's senior advisers who are sponsoring the Bill admitted this weekend that the Government is now "prepared to make adaptations."
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
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