The British Casino Association (BCA) is consulting its legal team following the Casino Advisory Panel’s (CAP) announcement of the locations for the 17 new casinos.

The trade body claims that 11 of the 17 proposed regions recommended by CAP already have existing casinos – Manchester, which has been suggested as the site for the Las Vegas-style supercasino, has 10 – and is worried that the introduction of the new sites will create unfair competition.

Penny Cobham, chair of the BCA, said: “This brings back into sharp focus an inherent failing of Gambling Act, which gives the new casinos – particularly the regional casino – all manner of commercial freedoms that are not available to existing casinos, therefore creating 17 new casinos licences which are of considerably more value than existing ones.

“The whole process was borne out of the mishandling of the Act, which ended with little intellectual coherence on the subject of different types of casino and what they can offer. We urge the DCMS to bring forward its guidelines on how the tendering process for both the location and operators of the new regional, large and small casinos should be conducted as a matter of urgency.”

The new casinos will be able to offer more slot machines – with higher jackpots – and more gaming tables than the UK’s 138 existing casinos, which will not be allowed to increase their offering.