Viva Las Beswick

So in a surprising decision (with odds of 16-1), Manchester's the lucky winner of the super-casino sweep. I still think the regeneration case for the whole scheme is deeply flawed, but still. Lucky old Manchester.

The police have raised serious concerns about these new casinos leading to increases in crime, antisocial behaviour and organised criminal activity. So they're putting the biggest of the new breed into East Manchester, hardly an area short of these problems already? (Note to any chippy Mancs who might be reading this - I'm allowed to say that, I used to live in Miles Platting.)

Sheffield was also making a pitch, but the verdict of the Casino Advisory Panel (as reported in the Guardian) is interesting:
"while there remains a strong regeneration need in places like the Lower Don Valley, such has been the success of the city generally ... it remains in lesser regeneration need than others."
which seems a worthier win in itself.

And I suspect this doesn't exactly improve the odds of the much-debated move of chunks of the BBC to Salford ever actually happening...