NEWS that a gambling overhaul could be shelved should prompt Blackpool Council to seek new family attractions for key sites, casino opponents claimed this week.

Cllr Steven Bate of the Blackpool Coalition Against Gambling Expansion says international companies like Warner Bros should be targeted.

But casino supporters say they believe that the Government's long promised shake up of gambling regulations will go ahead in the next year, despite a string of media reports claiming it will be delayed.

"We need to really seek out some genuine family attractions for the sites identified in the masterplan," said Cllr Bate: "We cannot afford to hang around for another three years."

And Mr Bate said a meeting with representatives Bottrop, Blackpool's German twin town, was eye opening: "They have a theme park the size of Universal Studios, with Batman and Superman rides -- this is a coal mining town 200 miles from the coast. Warner Bros have three of these parks in France, two in Belgium and others in Holland, Spain and France so, if they want to have one in England, why not have it in Blackpool?

"We have a site earmarked for this stupid Pharaoh's Palace nonsense -- a theme park on the lines of Universal Studios, or the UFO centre idea that has been talked about, would be fantastic.

"There is a big black hole in the masterplan -- let's fill it with family attractions."

The coalition also points to a report in the respected Journal of the North American Gambling Industry which pours scorn on the chances for resort casinos.

It claims that two of the four conditions which helped Las Vegas and Atlantic City thrive would not exist in Britain.

High tax rates and the fact that Blackpool would not have a gambling monopoly would, according to an article in the journal, undermine the resort's hopes of a casino regeneration boost.

Now the anti-casino campaigners have called a public meeting for June 11 to discuss the future of Blackpool Council's £1 billion regeneration 'masterplan'.

Blackpool Challenge Partnership (BCP) -- the prime mover behind Blackpool's resort casino vision -- denied the gambling plans were on ice.

"We have been in touch with governmental departments and we have been assured that things are exactly the same," said a BCP spokeswoman.

She admitted that 'different and more important matters' could take up crucial Parliamentary time, but insisted: "We have been told it won't affect in any way the gaming law going through Parliament."

And Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden said he and Joan Humble had spoken with Tessa Jowell about the delay fears.

"There's obviously always pressure on the timetable but the culture ministry are well advanced in preparing the bill. Tessa Jowell is still keen for it to go into the Queen's Speech as we all are," Mr Marsden said.

He said he had not seen the Journal of the North American Gambling Industry report referred to by BCAGE.

"All of those issues the question of what size or resort casino would work best, what was unique or wasn't unique -- all these things can only be resolved when there are concrete proposals on the table," he said.

BCAGE's public meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 11 at the Firgrove Hotel, Dickson Road, Blackpool, starting at 7pm.