Poor will lose out in casino plan

Given that plans for the introduction of super-casinos to regenerate run-down towns have been in the public domain for some months, it's amusing to see Britain's media react so vehemently and with such apparent shock to the bill to liberalise our gambling laws. Up until now, gambling in Britain has been fairly low key. We have about 400,000 machines spread around 120,000 locations, the bulk of which are pubs, family centres and arcades. Although the bookmakers continue to operate in rather seedy premises behind blanked out windows, gambling has not appeared to pose significant social problems.