Greenwich Bid Tops Casino Advisory List
The Millennium Dome in Greenwich, southeast London, topped the list of the Casino Advisory Panel that gives assessment on the suitability of a location to be Britain's first ever super casino.
The Glasgow bid came in at a close second, followed by Blackpool. The three just have one point ahead of the next in rank. Behind the list were Sheffield, Brent, Newcastle, Cardiff and Manchester.
The Dome's ranking does not come without controversy as many speculate that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott had influence on the selection process.
Prescott has been controversially linked with the American owner of the Millennium Dome, Philip Anschutz.
Prescott has been reprimanded by the Commons standards committee for failing to declare immediately his stay at the Colorado estate of Anschutz summer of 2005. Prescott is now being accused of, at the very least, compromising the casino selection process.
Prescott however insisted that he did not exert influence on the Dome, and that he had no hand in the decision making process in location planning.
Some are just plain happy about the assessment result though. London mayor Ken Livingstone said he was happy to see plans for regional casinos at the Dome were going forward.
"I am particularly pleased that the panel has clearly looked beyond the recent controversy surrounding the Greenwich proposal based on the Dome, and has clearly weighed the merits of what is proposed there," he said.