LONDON is facing a battle with Manchester to be the home of a Las Vegas-style super-casino.

The Evening Standard has learned the Government is ready to use a loophole in the Gambling Act to increase the number of 24-hour betting complexes - after a pre-election row forced Labour to scale back plans for dozens of super-casinos to just one.

Blackpool is strongly tipped to be the first site. But the Government is now set to argue that at least one other needs to built in order to have a proper test and meet its "regulatory" requirement to assess the impact of a gambling revolution. One would be at a seaside resort and one in a city.

The development could see the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is planning a massive redevelopment of the Millennium Dome, including a casino, pitched against Manchester United owner Malcolm Glazer for the city venue.

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