It was King George V who said succinctly, if a little bawdily, "Bugger Bognor".

It had been suggested that Bognor be renamed Bognor Regis simply because he had convalesced there after a serious illness.

I too will be equally succinct, bawdy and even more alliterative, saying "Bugger Blackpool and Bravo Brighton" in response to the exciting news about the Gaming Review Body's recommendations to the government.

It wants a complete overhaul of the gaming laws in Britain - tightened up in 1968 to combat the growing influence of organised crime in the industry.

Even the prim new Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, whose remit includes gambling, accepts change is needed.

Worryingly though, while the report wants huge, so-called Las Vegas-style casino hotels, it is thinking of Blackpool as the first venue.

Blackpool! That sleazy strip on the Lancashire coast? For heaven's sake! What a dump the place is.

Never was anywhere more cynically misnamed than the Golden Mile.

According to one local hotelier, Blackpool has become the stag night capital of the north with what he described as a massive influx of drunken, drugged yobbos for both stag and hen nights.

It is a sign of the times for that sad city and its dingy, depressing promenade.

To compare Blackpool, even potentially, with Las Vegas is outrageous.

Even though I am not a gambling man, I have been to the desert resort twice recently and I know what a spectacular, exciting place it is.

The billions of dollars poured into creating the gambling capital of the world are staggering.

If I were the Mayor of Las Vegas, I would have my lawyers chasing anyone who had the gall to talk of the two cities in the same breath.

But what about Brighton? Liberalising the gambling laws is a spectacular opportunity for our city to become one of the most attractive resorts in Europe.

Development capital could pour in for building new casinos and hotels.

The West Pier, on which rebuilding work should start next year, is a unique site for such a project.

What a gift for an imaginative architect. There is nowhere quite like it anywhere in the world.

St Modwen, the private sector partner in the West Pier development, has said it is not interested in a casino.

But given the opportunities opened up by the Gaming Review Body's report, it may well think again.

It certainly should.

The West Pier Trust has not closed its mind to the idea, providing it does not replicate anything that might be on the Brighton Pier.

The opportunistic challenge by the Noble Organisation, owners of the Brighton Pier, about the use of public money from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the West Pier development should be effectively dealt with by the HLF.

The bold report from the Gaming Review Board and the apparent acquiescence of the nanny state calls for an equally bold response from Brighton's council, hoteliers, businessmen and entrepreneurs