The controversy over the government's decision to award a series of licences to casino operators raged on today, as church leaders spoke out.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said he was "concerned" about the message gambling sent out.

Yesterday, the Casino Advisory Panel recommended Manchester to become home to Britain's first ever supercasino as well as handing out eight licences for large casinos and eight for smaller venues.

Its findings will be considered by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell before going to a Commons vote.

The British Casino Association, which represents 90% of Britain's casinos, joined the argument complaining the 17 new casinos will have "all manner" of commercial freedoms not available to existing venues.

Dr Williams said it was clear from research that gambling is a "more and more popular form of addiction", and the seriousness of it should not be "under-rated".

He said: "All addictions are imprisonments for the soul and therefore any form of addiction is something that ought to be of concern to the population at large and to the religious population in particular.

"I know that the area of Manchester where this development is planned to take place, in Beswick, is one which has a long history of deprivation which is going through regeneration at the moment.

"I happen to have quite direct contact with one of the primary schools there, so it's not quite an academic interest.

"I'm concerned about the messages that are being sent out; about the messages that are being sent out about gambling and children which will need to be controlled very, very vigorously.

"I'm concerned that this development has been greeted in Manchester as a contribution to regeneration."

The Anglican Bishop of Hulme, Stephen Lowe, told Channel 4 News: "These facilities are alongside some of the poorest communities and there is every evidence to suggest that actually gambling addiction follows the development of casinos - a massive rise in gambling addiction.

"These communities are already vulnerable. Do we really want people to be going in to the 1,250 slot machines that are going to be in this facility before they go into Asda/Wal-Mart for their weekly shop?

"Frankly, there is evidence to suggest that people will go hungry because of these sorts of facility and that's not a better Britain."

The large casinos will cover up to 1,500 square metres and house up to 150 gaming machines with jackpots of up to £4,000.

They will be based in Great Yarmouth, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, Solihull and Southampton.

Small casinos up to 750 square metres large and housing up to 80 of the £4,000 maximum jackpot gaming machines will be based in Bath and North East Somerset, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton.

Penny Cobham, chairman of the BCA, said: "It is unfortunate that the Government, when considering social responsibility issues, resisted the BCAs proposal to test the impact of new games and other innovations within existing operators estates.

"We should not lose sight of the fact that the CAP has today also recommended the areas where the new Small and Large casinos may be sited, many of which are in close proximity to existing casinos and therefore likely to encroach on their catchment areas.

"This whole process was born out of the mishandling of the Gambling Act. The criteria by which the CAP arrived at their recommendations may be questioned by others, but the reality is that they were handed a poisoned chalice.

"Because of the inequality of what different casinos, even those operating in the same town, will be able to offer their customers, the Government has created a dichotomy which no Advisory Panel could hope to resolve."

As the winning bidder for the supercasino licence, Manchester will become home to up to 1,250 unlimited jackpot gaming machines housed in the Sportcity complex in Beswick, east Manchester, near the Commonwealth Games venue, the City of Manchester Stadium.

It will bring £265 million investment and up to 2,700 direct and indirect jobs.

But officials from Blackpool and representatives of the Millennium Dome in Greenwich expressed bitter disappointment at losing out.

Copyright Press Association 2007