"We have taken careful note of concerns raised during the bill's second reading debate about the casino proposals," Richard Caborn, a minister in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, told the parliamentary Gambling Bill Standing Committee Tuesday. "As an additional reassurance, we will limit the number of [regional] casinos to eight."
He went on to say that the regulations outlined in the draft bill and the planning system, "would not on their own be strong enough to guard against the proliferation of a kind of gambling facility hitherto untested in this country, or the location of regional casinos in unsuitable areas."
But Caborn did not rule out a gradual increase in the number of these casinos. "Whether more regional casinos will be allowed in due course will depend on the result of a careful evaluation of their impact after an initial period," he said. "Our analysis has always suggested that the number of regional casinos would increase gradually in the early stages of the new regulatory environment, because of the safeguards we are putting in place."
The cap represents a major blow to international casino operators like MGM, Sun International and Caesars which had hoped that the liberalization of the legislation in Britain would enable the country to become the gambling mecca of Europe.
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