A gamble that will fail

The government yesterday announced that 16 casinos will still get the go-ahead but the Manchester regional super casino will go the way of Betamax.  According to Andy Burnham MP these "do not pose the same level of risk to the public as a regional casino".

We all knew this was coming, but now it has, I'd like to ask: "Eh?"

The implication is that the more flashing lights there are, the more likely we are to suddenly turn into gambling fiends. Does the amount of parking capacity at a casino directly correlate with our ability to retain our sanity? The government obviously doesn’t have a lot of faith in us, that much is clear.

Obviously Labour has come up with a foolproof plan to combat such cynicism. To make sure we are kept safe, these teeny weeny casinos will have:

- Non-gambling areas
- No free drinks for customers while gambling
- Cash machine located away from gambling areas
- Provision of information on site for problem gamblers

This is just idiotic…the fact is there will be free drinks and there will be cash and there will be gambling areas. Making cash machines 2 minutes walk away or having comfy sofas in a slot machine-free area does not change this.