£4m Wolverhampton casino 'to offer something for everyone'

Adrian Ballard, a director at Casino 36 Ltd, also said the casino would help boost the night time economy in the city.

Licensing chiefs are being recommended to grant the new licence to Casino 36 Ltd at a meeting next week.

It would see a huge expansion of their current Rubicon Casino site in Temple Street, revamping the building and expanding it into the empty neighbouring property, formerly The Dorchester.

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Up to 133 new jobs will be created.

It comes after a long battle with Wolverhampton Racecourse, who eventually pulled out of plans to open the country's first 'Racino'.

Mr Ballard said: "There will be something for everyone with non-gambling areas including a high class restaurant, sports bar and darts, pool and snooker.

"The casino would open for 24 hours.

"This would be a massive expansion of what we already do there. This will really benefit the night-time economy of Wolverhampton.

"It will have a lot more than your average casino.

"This will be a premier landmark venue for Wolverhampton city centre within the Southside regeneration area."

The company has also handed £36,000 to the Wolverhampton City Council, despite not being legally obliged to do so, to be spent in the community.

It will be used for counselling programmes and community initiatives.

In a report due to be presented to the licensing committee on Wednesday, it is proposed that the council spend £9,000 to support 90 counselling programmes for people with gambling problems and their families.

The remaining £27,000 is to be used for grants of up to £3,000 for community initiatives.

The new casino is set to bring 133 jobs to the city and hopefully provide a boost to the economy.

Despite Wolverhampton Racecourse pulling out of the race for the license, bosses at council still insist they have carried out a process to ensure the Casino 36 Ltd bid is the right one for the city.

Councillor Peter Bilson, regeneration chief at the council, said: "Our officers have carried out a very thorough evaluation process taking the advice from nationally respected industry experts."

The city council was granted a small casino licence by Parliament in 2008.

It appeared to be a two-horse race for the licence with Casino 36 Ltd and Wolverhampton Racecourse both bidding for the right to open the casino.

But bosses as the racecourse confirmed earlier this year that they had dropped it's bid to host the casino, but insisted they would still be investing in the city by building a new all-weather racetrack at the Dunstall Park venue.