LAST week Home Office Minister Timothy Kirkhope named Morecambe as one of 13 towns around the country where new casinos will be allowed. And it now looks as though Morecambe will definitely become home to at least one casino with Diane Huddleston's Midland Hotel looking to be the most likely venue. This week Citizen reporter Wendy Sargeant asked various members of the community for their views as people in the town talk more about Monte Carlo than good old Morecambe. Mayor Shirley Burns is all for a casino and is convinced the move will benefit the town and bring in tourists.

She said: "If the Midland Hotel in particular is restored and used as the casino it will be a credit to the town. People will come from quite a distance because the Midland Hotel looks like a top quality casino already. I think people will enjoy it."

Cllr Jean Yates also welcomes the prospect of Morecambe having a casino and dismissed fears about under-age gambling.

She said: "I am very pleased. I would like to see Morecambe being more like Monaco rather than competing with the kind of tack that Blackpool has to offer.

"I don't think it will be any different from the National Lottery and that doesn't seem to have done any harm. And I am sure there will be no problems with under age gamblers or drinkers. I have never been to a casino were people under age have been admitted."

Morecambe's MP Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd echoed that view when he said: "I very much welcome the consultation paper and Morecambe's inclusion in it. Any high quality venture which could help the revival of Morecambe will have my approval."

However, the manager of Oasis Entertainments on Morecambe prom sounded a more cautious note with amusement arcade owners in the resort worried about losing business.

He said: "Of course we are worried about the threat of losing revenue but that has to be seen, we don't know what is going to happen yet."

Cllr Derrick Stanley, Chairman of the Morecambe Tourism Service Group, doesn't see casinos attracting muggers and causing a rise in crime. He fully supports the proposal and explained that casinos have operated successfully in this area in the past.

He said: "We had a casino at Heysham Head which operated for a number of years. There was no involvement with crime there and I don't feel there will be a problem with crime if a casino opens in Morecambe. I am definitely not opposed to a casino in Morecambe."

Supt. Bernard Kershaw from Lancaster Police Dept. explained that the possibility of the casino attracting criminals to the resort hasn't yet been fully explored.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.