Brum Vegas! £150m casino opens... in Birmingham

WITH its brash glitz, Las Vegas seems an unlikely role model for Birmingham.

But Britain’s second-biggest city appears to be trying to close the gap after a £150million casino complex opened yesterday.

Resorts World Birmingham contains one of Britain’s largest casinos, with 100 slot machines, as well as shops, restaurants, a hotel and entertainment all under one roof.

Like famous casinos such as the MGM Grand, Bellagio and Caesar’s Palace in Vegas, the Genting International Casino will be open 24 hours a day, with American roulette, blackjack, baccarat and £20,000 jackpot slot machines on offer. Almost 1,200 full-time jobs have been created on the 538-acre site by the NEC arena.

The resort, built in the shape of a cruise ship, was founded by the Malaysian firm Genting, which has similar venues dotted around the globe in Manila, New York, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The 12-storey building contains 50 shops and 18 bars and restaurants, allowing visitors to dine on Italian food, followed by a drink at a New Yorkinspired bar and finish off with a massage at an Asian spa.

Developers claim the complex is unique in offering entertainment, accommodation and shopping on the same site. They say it will boost the regional economy by £33million a year.

The first stage of the development opened yesterday and the casino, due to open next week, is only one of three in Britain to have been offered a ‘large casino licence’. The other two are in Newham, London and Milton Keynes.

Describing the casino, operations director, Barry Clemo, said: ‘It isn’t Vegas but it kind of has that Vegas feel.’ Genting advertise the venue as ‘Europe’s first resort casino’.

In 2007, following a 30-month campaign by the Mail that highlighted concerns about social damage from gambling experts and religious leaders, the Government agreed to scrap plans for so-called super-casinos.