Scottish Christian.com

Home > News > Scottish Christian News Monitor

Christians welcome Brown's supercasino review

Christians have welcomed the suggestion from Gordon Brown that there may be better ways to bring economic growth to east Manchester than to build a supercasino there.

The city beat off competition from London, Glasgow and Blackpool to become the unexpected winner of the sole supercasino licence, a project expected to bring £200m investment and 2,700 jobs to some of the most deprived communities in east Manchester.

Mr Brown announced that a review would be undertaken by September to assess the level of regeneration that a supercasino could bring to a deprived city or town.

Evangelical Alliance Parliamentary Officer Gareth Wallace said: “We have always maintained that bringing in a super-casino would be a serious gamble for society and would stack the odds against regeneration.

“The poorer people are the ones who play at the slot machines most and pay the highest social price.

“The Evangelical Alliance will constructively contribute to any review process. We warmly welcome the Prime Minister’s cautious and reflective approach to this complex issue.”

The Methodist Church’s Coordinating Secretary for Public Life & Social Justice, Anthea Cox, also welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement.

“We’re delighted to hear this news. Our concerns about casinos have always primarily been about the harm they can do to people who develop gambling problems but we were never convinced about whether they were a realistic way of regenerating urban areas," she said.

“We look forward to the Government’s review in September and are pleased that the Government has listened to the concerns raised by churches and other groups.”

Full story at Christian Today.