Big-money Black Country casino plan

A multi-million pound casino creating 120 new jobs could be built in the Black Country.

Gaming giant Rank Group wants to open a Grosvenor Casino, off the Birchley Island, opposite Toys R Us in Oldbury, as part of its £50 million expansion nationwide.

It is also aiming to open a new casino in Birmingham at a mystery location and expand its Walsall Grosvenor Casino in Bentley Mill Way.

The new casino in Oldbury could be open as early as 2012 if approved, but first the company has to overcome a blanket ban on gambling venues in Sandwell.

Casinos were banned from opening in Sandwell in 2006 because councillors feared they might encourage gambling in an area of high deprivation.

The ban was reinforced and extended until at least 2012 in a vote during a full council meeting last October.

But the Rank Group was awarded its licence around five years ago, before it came into force and is planning for its casino on a triangle of vacant land to the south side of the Birchley Island adjacent to the M5 slip road. The land is jointly owned by Sandwell Council and developer St Modwen.

If opened the Grosvenor will be only the second casino in Sandwell joining the The Shaftesbury Casino, High Street, West Bromwich.

Councillor Ian Jones, Sandwell Council's cabinet member for jobs and economy, today confirmed that he was in talks with managers at Rank Group.

He said: "We are exploring the possibility of a site being made available and we are having talks at the moment.

"Sandwell has a no-casino policy, but their application pre-dates that so we are looking at whether to allow it.

"The figure they have suggested for new jobs is 120, that would of course be very welcome."

Rank Group, which also owns Mecca Bingo, published their half year results on Friday which showed that customers visits were up 3.6 per cent since January.

The report also detailed their Grosvenor Casino expansion plans and new casinos for Stockton-on-Tees, Manchester, Liverpool, Scarborough, Southend-on-Sea, Reading, Edinburgh and Birkenhead.

The move is set to create around 800 jobs over the next few years.

Amy Culora, the communications manager for Grosvenor Casinos, said it was too early to comment on the plans.