More on the super-casinoUpdated: March 10th, 2007
Super-casino may abandon its site? - Don’t bet on it
Are the owners of the Telegraph Group stirring up trouble over the new super-casino? Last weekend the Sunday Telegraph speculated that Manchester’s super-casino may not be built at SportCity after all (link).
The paper carried these quotes from Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese:
“There is probably a very high chance that the location will be the east Manchester site but it is open to bidders to propose other sites.
“I am sure that every major gambling company will put in a proposal and people have started contacting us already.
“It is going to be an open tender process and operators can come forward with other sites. We will have to judge those on their merits. They are going to have to meet the regeneration agenda but they don’t have to be in east Manchester.”
The super-casino licence was awarded on condition that bids to build and operate it were put out to tender. Under the rules, bids involving sites based in other areas of Manchester would have to be considered, so Leese could hardly say anything else.
The story also suggested that a super-casino might not be viable in Manchester, while last week the Daily Telegraph claimed that there might be a legal fight over the decision.
The Telegraph Group is owned by the billionaire Barclay brothers, who also own the Ritz Casino and until recently, held a 24% stake in casino operator London Clubs International. So could it be that the Barclays’ gambling interests are affecting the coverage in their newspapers?
Considering the amount of investment Manchester City Council is putting into east Manchester (details here), it’s probably safe to assume the super-casino will indeed be built next door to CoMS.
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Last week I noted the role played by Europe Economics, a consultancy firm hired by Manchester City Council which claimed to have played a “significant part” in Manchester’s bid.
The firm’s chairman and founder, Dermot Glynn, was previously the chief economist at the government’s favourite mangement consultants, KPMG, while senior staff member Derek Scott was a former economic advisor to Tony Blair and also used to work at KPMG.
Curious then that two out of the five members of the Casino Advisory Panel also have a background in management consultancy. And which firm did they used to work for?
Yep, you guessed it - KPMG.