Plans for a Las Vegas-style seafront casino have been thrown into jeopardy within days of proposals getting the green light.

Ladbrokes Plc, which applied to open a late-night casino in the Hilton Brighton Metropole, announced yesterday it had sold its UK branch of the hotel chain to the Hilton Hotel Corporation of the United States.

Ciaran O'Brien, a Ladbrokes spokesman, said the betting company would have to consider its options before deciding whether or not to apply for a premises licence for the hotel.

Plans for a casino in Paddington will still go ahead and the gambling complex will open later this year but the future of the Brighton venue and a second London complex in the Park Lane Hilton is now unclear.

It was expected the hotel group would vie for one of eight new "super-casino" licences being issued nationwide by the Government next year.

Brighton and Hove City Councillors gave the Metropole plans the go ahead at Wednesday's planning meeting on the proviso £20,000 would be ploughed into security measures.

The two-storey 2,315sqm drinking and gambling complex would be created in conference and exhibition rooms on the ground and first floors which are currently used infrequently.

Friday, February 24, 2006