Guildford MP welcomes Government climbdown on Supercasinos

10.04.52am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 6th Apr 2005

The Government has done a deal with opposition parties to complete the passage of the Gambling Bill before the General Election. The Bill will now only allow the creation of just a single supercasino in Britain on a pilot basis.

Sue Doughty said:

"We stuck to our guns on this as people simply do not want supercasinos in their towns. The deal will now allow the rapid introduction of a tougher regulator for gambling, which will regulate internet gambling for the first time.

"During the passage of the bill the Liberal Democrats have secured improvements that exempt charitable lotteries from excess bureaucracy, require ID age checks in casinos, and prevent the introduction of unlimited supercasinos with superjackpot machines.

"I will continue to fight off the threat of other casinos in Guildford that are not wanted by the local community."