Now Dome curse hits King Tut

The first exhibition for 30 years of the treasures of Tutankhamun will be the first casualty of AEG's failure to win the bid to build the country's first supercasino at the Millennium Dome.

AEG was planning to hold the loss-making exhibition to attract tens of thousands of visitors to the site, in a bid to dispel perception of the Dome as the country's largest white elephant.

David Campbell who, as president of Anschutz Entertainment Group Europe was in charge of the Millennium Dome bid, said: "I feel sorry for London. We have a large building to fill up with attractions.

"If we'd had a casino we would have done a lot more. London, which really needs a booster, is the one that has missed out."

Mr Chapman refused to say whether his company would mount a legal challenge to the Casino Advisory Panel's decision. He said: "Until we've gone through the detail it is impossible to make a call on it."

Asked if he felt AEG had been "led on" by government officials he said: "We felt we ticked the boxes. One of the reasons we're going through the report is that it came out with another conclusion. We're going to have to try to understand that. I wouldn't at this point say we were led along."