ONLY a handful of people turned out this week for the first public meeting to discuss the proposed Las Vegas-style resort casinos in Blackpool.

Nine people attended the meeting at the Town Hall on Tuesday afternoon, which was held to allow people in the licensed trade to give their opinions on the casinos.

Their views will be part of the public consultation that will form the basis of a report to the council to help them make a decision on the casino plans.

But the council chamber was almost empty and only one representative of the licensed trade spoke at the meeting.

Coun Philip Dunne, who chairs the commerce service development committee which will collect information for the report, said that the committee aimed to hear the views of all people in the town who wanted to have a say.

"Our brief as councillors is to listen. For the public, we are here to listen and to take on board your concerns or your evidence.

"Resort casinos may be the biggest decision the council has made in the past 100 years," he told the meeting.

He said that the committee -- and the public meetings -- were to be non-political: "This question is too big to be playing political football with it."

But Blackpool trader Steven Black said that the meetings had not been publicised well enough. Coun Dunne said that he could not invite every business individually. "But when there's a necessity to hear someone who can't come to the relevant meeting I will do everything I can to listen to them. I am flexible," he said.

Mr Black said he wanted to know what public money had been spent so far in promoting the idea of the casinos.

"The impact of the casinos is going to be massive. You are going to have thousands of subsidised hotel bedrooms. That will affect other hotels. When you cut off their livelihood you cut off my livelihood.

"I think it's a hare-brained, stupid idea. I think it's economically mad to create a business on gambling. It's an industry that's trying to get wealth from the weakness of the citizens," he said.

He added that the casinos would only benefit corporate businesses. "If you benefit local traders your profits stay in the locality," he said.

Blackpool retailer Nat Kohler, who also spoke at the meeting, said that he was morally against the casinos.

"What's going to happen to the rest of the town, the shopkeepers and the rest of them? We haven't been told the facts. We need something to revitalise the town. I'm certain it's not casinos," he said.

Norma Jean Elliott, the only licensee who spoke at the meeting, said that the council would be undertaking a huge project if they decided to back the casino plans. "These casino hotels are not just casinos. People go in the morning and don't come out until night time. The shopping mall is one day's experience in itself. It's a phenomenal exercise you've got on your hands," she said.

Pamela Ruddy, of the Blackpool Hotel and Guest House Association, said she had gone to the meeting as an observer and was appalled at the low turnout: "I thought I would be coming here to listen to what other sectors of business had to say," she said.

Five more public meetings will be held to give people an opportunity to air their views on the casinos. The meetings have been split into the following categories: Accommodation sector -- March 12 at 2pm; General public --March 19 at 2pm and 7pm; retail trade and commercial sector -- March 26 at 2pm; Church and faith representatives -- April 10 at 2pm. All the meetings will take place at the Town Hall.

A council spokesman said that licensees who had missed the first meeting were welcome to speak at the meetings for the general public and for the business/trade sector.