大象传媒

All a-flutter

• Kate Feld
• 31 Jan 07, 08:02 PM

Ka-ching! That's the sound of Manchester landing the country's first supercasino, beating out bids from highly favoured Blackpool and some oversized dome down South. And oh, the blogs are buzzing. You might expect citizens of Mancunia to be rubbing their hands with mercenary glee over our city's unexpected jackpot, but think again.

"Glorious news," writes sarcasm king . "Manchester is about to become the British headquarters of the taxing-the-stupid industry..."You know, I鈥檓 sure all our councilors watch It鈥檚 a Wonderful Life every Christmas. And when they see that sequence with the angel who shows George Bailey the raucous hellhole his town would have become if it wasn鈥檛 for him, they say: 'that鈥檚 exactly what we need here.'"

Some have shown a more softhearted side, fretting about what the loss of the casino will mean for the beleaguered seaside resort. "Spare a thought for Blackpool," writes Stephen Newton in his . "The town鈥檚 regeneration strategy is now in tatters 鈥� and it鈥檚 hard to see what they鈥檒l do now."

Others have been less... erm...sympathetic to the loser's plight. says "I'm gutted at the news that the super casino has gone to Manchester. My slogan all along has been 鈥淏lackpool 鈥� because you couldn鈥檛 make it any worse鈥�. And imagine what would鈥檝e been able to do with all that neon and glitz."

Quite a few bloggers have questioned the wisdom of locating the casino in economically-deprived East Manchester. asks if it will come at too high a cost: "The promotion of gambling and opening up of new 鈥楲as Vegas鈥� style casino鈥檚 cannot be a good thing for wider society and community sustainability & cohesion."

fears not only gambing addiction and crime but dire consequences for Manchester's image; will the name of our fair city become, like Las Vegas, linked forever in people's minds with naked greed and moral vacuity? "This is not to say that Beswick won't value 2500 new jobs and the inflow of hundreds of millions of cash into the local economy," he writes. "And it's a relief too that the Dome did not win a prize over which John Prescott was so over-enthusiastically lobbied by billionaire owner Philip Anshutz. But am I alone in feeling very uneasy about all this?

However, there's nothing morally wrong with gambling responsibly, says . He has a good summary of both sides of this morality question on his blog, but admits he doesn't know the answer to this debate. And anyway, you won't see him in Beswick: "my vice is Texas Hold鈥橢m poker, and it鈥檚 just not worth playing it at a casino, because the House helps itself to a percentage of every pot. "

, at least, thinks Manchester was the right choice: "the body set up to scrutinise the bids looked at delivery, regeneration and the business case - I never thought Blackpool would be able to make that stack up. Manchester is top draw on putting together winning bids - Sports events, political conferences and trade exhibitions."

Still, even he is ambivalent about whether the supercasino has a super future: "having joined new Manchester 235 casino just before Christmas I was absolutely stunned at the scale of the place, but aghast at the emptiness of it. It was soulless and lifeless and bore no relation to the shiny images on the brochures. I just don't think they'll catch on."

Hmmm.... fancy a wager on it?