No. The Super Casino was never taken forward. It was voted down by the House of Lords even though the House of Commons voted for it. It was utterly farcical. Both Houses weren’t full of MPs and Lords during the debates. In the House of Lords some of the Lords were fast asleep during the debate. Before the debates and votes, Blackpool the favourites for the Super Casino, having missed out on it, launched a bitter campaign trying to get the decision reversed, but all it did was kill the Super Casino for Blackpool and Manchester. At the time I was f*cking fuming. In hindsight it was the right thing. That said, the Collar site still remains undeveloped to this day.
The New Labour government had initiated a bidding competition following its Gambling Act in 2005 and the favourites to get the UK’s first destination casino were Blackpool, the Millenium Dome in London and East Manchester.
In January 2007 Blackpool hearts were broken when the Casino Advisory Panel recommended that the Manchester location should be used as that part of the North West had a great regeneration need.
A campaign was launched to get the decision changed and a petition of 11,514 delivered to Number 10, but year later and the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown, finally killed off any hopes by ditching the Super Casino plans for the UK.
It was seen as a disaster for the resort when the Super Casino scheme died in 2008, but now the ghost of the project, which could have brought 3,400 jobs to Blackpool, has come back from the dead.
www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk
