As reported by: Times Online
It is a parable for our times that Manchester is celebrating today because it has successfully bid to be the gambling capital of Britain. The place where cotton once was king, hub of the industrial revolution, the home of Victorian social reform, where Cobden, Bright and Owen championed the workers, has become . . . the city of bling. What were the odds? Seven to one against, evens or just pile all the money on red and hope for the best?

These days, it seems, bringing in the high rollers, the poker dudes and those inert rows of zombies who spend their days pulling the levers on fruit machines becomes every bit as important as attracting a multimillion-pound semiconductor plant or going for the Commonwealth Games. The bidding process sounds much the same - emphasise phrases like “world-class venue”, “state-of-the-art transport system”, “areas of deprivation” and, of course, “regeneration” and it all begins to come together. But, when the chips are down, is that regeneration - or degeneration?

There are two ways to view this government-sponsored gambling fever. One is to bemoan the dumbing down of our national life and somehow hope that it will all go away; or to find out whether Manchester can strike a balance between the tourist expansion that its new supercasino is said to offer, and the sleazy subculture and gambling addiction that could grow up around it. It is a tough call

Article By: Times Online