Las Vegas style gaming will come to Britain and Manchester will be destination for poker players for years to come.

We’ll have to wait until the thing is built, but it won’t be long until large scale WSOP and WPT style poker tournaments and high rolling cash games will become the norm.

The independent Casino Advisory Panel has selected Sportcity, East Manchester, as the site of the UK’s first super-casino, which will serve as a test case for large scale gaming in this country.

The site is currently home to the City of Manchester Stadium, and developments will be accomodated around existing infrastructure.

The decision has come as somewhat of a shock as two front runners for the ‘regional casino’ had been Greenwich and Blackpool, with Glasgow, Newcastle, Cardiff, Sheffield and Manchester also shortlisted.

The major factor in the decision, as laid out by the government was ’to ensure that locations satisfy the need for the best possible test of social impact (which may require a range of locations of different kinds such as seaside resorts, edge of town developments or inner city centres)’.

The hope is that the super-casino will encourage regeneration in the local area, providing not only entertainment, but also jobs and an economic boost to the local community.

Licences have been granted for 17 new casinos in the following three classes:

One regional casino: up to 1,250 unlimited-jackpot slot machines; hotels, restaurants, bars, conference facilities and live entertainment areas; bingo and betting allowed; minimum area of 5,000 sq m.

Eight large casinos: up to 150 slot machines with a maximum jackpot of £4,000; minimum area of 1,500 sq m; bingo and betting allowed.

Eight small casinos: up to 80 slot machines with a maximum jackpot of £4,000; minimum area of 750 sq m; Betting, but not bingo, permitted.

Large casino licences were granted to Great Yarmouth, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, Solihull and Southampton.

Smaller casino licences were granted to Bath and North East Somerset, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton.

Slot machines are seen as the ‘engine’ of any casino operation and the numbers of machines are closely linked to the size and scope of the individual casinos.

However, the gaming operators are at pains to stress that gambling will not be the only reason for a visit, and outlets are being billed as ‘integrated resorts’ with varied leisure and entertainment options.

Upwards of 30 super-casinos were orinally planned, but that was reduced to eight and then to one after fears were raised over problem gambling.