Casino retreat

Ministers are preparing to defuse the row over their gambling reforms by imposing an effective cap on the number of mega-casinos.

The move comes amid Cabinet dissent over the Gambling Bill and a new opinion poll showing that most voters, especially women, are opposed to US-style expansion of the industry.

The ICM survey showed that only 34 per cent of the public back more casinos while 53 per cent are against. Opposition is strongest among women and the middle classes.

Tony Blair insisted yesterday that only between 20 and 40 new megacasinos are likely to be built in addition to the 120 already operating.

Ministers are keenly aware that they have to do more to head off claims that up to 100 new Las Vegasstyle premises could open.

Amendments to the Gambling Bill are now "almost certain", senior government sources told the Evening Standard, with two key areas likely to be changed.

While there is unlikely to be a specific limit of 40 written into the Bill, ministers are considering proposals to impose a cap by the back door by insisting on larger non-gaming

areas. The proposal, made by a joint committee of MPs and peers, is that a minimum space of 4,000 square metres be imposed to ensure the casinos are just one part of larger leisure and hotel complexes.

At present, the minimum nongambling area, which is designed to give gamblers time to "cool off " to limit their losses, is set at 1,500 square metres.

Given the costs of creating such enormous centres and the fact that only a few areas can make them viable, it is estimated that the change would result in as few as 25 actually being built in the next 10 years.

Another key amendment being considered is to give local councils a stronger veto over any application put before them. At present, Clause 157 of the Bill gives a new power for a local authority to reject an application on moral grounds.

But the clause only applies if councillors agree to reject all new casinos. One option will be to allow them to reject just the new mega-casinos.

The Evening Standard has also learned that Downing Street only agreed to bring the Gambling Bill forward this Parliamentary session after dozens of Labour MPs lobbied ministers.

The MPs, from traditional Labour heartland seats and from marginal seats in coastal resorts, said they needed the extra jobs from the new casinos to help boost local support. Many of the MPs had themselves been lobbied by the gambling industry. The Leader of the Commons, Peter Hain, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong were all then lobbied by backbenchers to get the Bill in place as soon as possible.

John Greenway, Tory chairman of the joint committee of peers and MPs which scrutinised the draft Bill, said the only realistic way forward now was for the Government to accept its recommendations, previously rejected.

"I think Parliament will look at our recommendations and say to the Government that if we get the changes that are needed, then you will get your legislation."

Meanwhile, the ICM poll also found that 57 per cent of voters approved of a relaxation of drinking laws, while 66 per cent backed a ban on smoking in public places.