Leeds Council is still confident they could get one of the coveted eight casino licences that the UK government is expected to give out in January this year, 24dash.com reported.

Last week’s Casino Advisory Panel announcement which finalised their long and short shortlist of districts that casinos could be built made the Leeds City Council optimistic that they were still in the running for one of the licences.

The short shortlist consists of Blackpool, Cardiff, Glasgow, Greenwich, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield, and the long shortlist is much longer, where Leeds is in sixth place according to a standard ranking system among the bidding towns.

Leeds executive member for development for the council, Andrew Carter said: “We remain confident that a large casino can still be a big part of the city’s regeneration plans.”

Depending on its size, the Leeds Council hopes a new casino would re-generate the city economy; creating up to 500 full-time jobs within the casino and 200 outside it, and potentially bringing in outside investment of up to ₤21 million in the private sector.

The Leeds bid is also realistic about the adverse effect that gambling has on some patrons and is prepared to deal with that as well.

“As a responsible authority we will always aim to protect those who could be affected in a negative way by gambling,” Councillor Carter said.

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