LOCAL authorities across the country are being offered tens of millions of pounds to approve planning applications for Las Vegas-style super casinos, The Times has learnt.

Councils have even started demanding a permanent share of the profits from the new ventures, with Manchester City Council asking operators to specify in advance how much money it will receive each year.

Although such deals, known as Section 106 agreements, are completely legal, many believe that the scale of the proposed payments undermines claims by the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, that local authorities will protect the interests of residents.

John Whittingdale, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said it was a worrying development. “I would think that wholly inappropriate,” he said. “It means the council is no longer an objective arbiter.”

Today the Government will publish the long-awaited Gambling Bill which will pave the way for the super casinos.

Caesars Entertainment is understood to have offered Manchester City Council two per cent of the casino’s “gaming gross revenue” in return for permission to build a casino on the eastern Sportcity site. The company had further guaranteed that the annual fee would not fall below £1 million a year. It is also understood to have promised £3 million up front for local businesses.

But the council rejected Caesars’ overtures and has chosen Kerzner International, which runs Sands in Las Vegas, as its preferred operator to build the £260 million Sportcity casino and sports complex, including hotel, ice rink, swimming pool and artificial beach.

Last night Kerzner refused to say how much it had bid.

Caesars has since agreed to open a casino in Wembley, London, which it will run jointly with Quintain Estates and Development. Although a similar deal is understood to have been floated for the Wembley development, neither Brent Council nor Caesars would discuss the details as negotiations are ongoing.

A spokesman for Caesars said: “It’s too early to quantify what the regenerative benefits will be for the area around Wembley and this is a matter for discussion. We are not aware of such a tax deal being suggested for the Wembley site.” He did not comment on the offer to Manchester City Council.

Other casino operators refused to comment. A spokesman for MGM Mirage said: “We do not comment on deal structures but a percentage of future earnings is not believed to be on the cards.”

Section 106 agreements are common but controversial, with one local councillor in Lambeth last week describing them as a “bribe” in an e-mail to a colleague. Last year the industry estimated that Section 106 contributions came to £5 billion.

Ms Jowell denied that local authorities would not be able to stand up to the big casinos, even if they offered millions of pounds.

She told The Times: “I served on a local council in the centre of London for years and years and believe me, ultimately you are accountable to your local population and it depends whether or not the local population want them.

“The Bill is to give local authorities and planning authorities and the Gambling Commission the power to regulate that. So these are consents to develop large casinos that will only move forward on the basis that they have local support, the local community want them, believe that they will benefit from them and the Gambling Commission are prepared to licence them.”

Yesterday The Times revealed that much of the expertise the Government has on regulating gambling firms will be lost because the new commission will be located out of London in Newcastle.

Few members of the existing Gaming Board, and the civil servants that support them, are expected to move from the current High Holborn offices.

• Plans to open a Las Vegas-style casino next to Elland Road football stadium could be worth £5 million to Leeds United. Stanley Casinos Limited plans to build a casino complex on the newly acquired site subject to the reform of the gambling laws. Last week Leeds United, relegated from the Premiership last season with debts of £100 million, sold their training ground for £4 million.
  

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