Manchester has won the race to build the UK's first super-casino, the Casino Advisory Panel has announced.

The city beat off competition from Blackpool, Greenwich in London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Sheffield and Newcastle.

The license will allow Manchester to build a casino at least 5,000 square metres large, with the capacity for 1,250 unlimited-jackpot fruit machines.

Manchester City Council said the development would create around 2,700 jobs and a range of community facilities.

They are planning to invest more than £265m into the project.

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

Bath and North East Somerset, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton have been granted licences to build smaller casinos.

Stephen Crow, Casino Advisory Panel: "Manchester represents a good place to test social impact, and the council's consultations with other local authorities and relevant bodies gave us confidence on that."

The super-casino will be located at Manchester's Sportcity, near to the City of Manchester Stadium.

The proposed regional casino site will also contain an entertainment complex with a range of facilities such as a multi purpose arena, a swimming pool, an urban sports venue, restaurants, bars, a nightclub and a hotel.

Chairman of the independent Casino Advisory Panel, Stephen Crow, said: "Manchester represents a good place to test social impact, and the council's consultations with other local authorities and relevant bodies gave us confidence on that.

"Manchester has a catchment area for a casino second only to that of London, and it is an area in need of regeneration at least as much as any of the others we observed - indeed, the city has the greatest need in terms of multiple deprivation of all the proposals that were before us."

Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council, added: "This will bring massive investment to Manchester, creating much-needed jobs and training opportunities in the catering, hospitality and leisure industries.

"The proposed development will not only attract visitors, boosting the local and regional economy, but it will provide new state-of-the-art venues for the local community to enjoy."

Blackpool and Greenwich had been the bookmakers' favourites to land the license, while Manchester was a 16-1 outsider.

The article Manchester wins 'super-casino' licence originally appeared on 999 Today