Elland RoadLeeds City Council will announce early next week who has won the rights to build Leeds’ first supercasino.

Six years since the government first announced plans for Las Vegas style casinos to be built across the UK, Leeds City Council has now reached the final decision stage with meetings scheduled to take place Monday the 13th and Tuesday the 14th of May. A final decision is expected to be announced when the council reconvenes on Friday.

Several parties have pulled out of the running since applications were made last year, leaving only two remaining bidders.

The remaining bidders are Leeds United Football Club, who will integrate the new casino into a redeveloped West Stand, and Global Gaming Ventures, who plan to build the casino as the centrepiece of a new city centre development.

A spokesman for Leeds United Football Club gave a brief statement to the Yorkshire Evening Post;

 “We await with interest the outcome of the council’s decision in relation to the award of the licence after what has been a detailed and lengthy process.

“It goes without saying that if we were successful it would deliver significant benefits for both the club and the community.”

If successful, Leeds United say the casino will be operated by a specialist partner and that its construction will be central to the redevelopment of Elland Road’s West Stand. A second tier will be added to the West Stand, improving facilities, adding new executive boxes and also increasing Elland Road’s capacity.

The casino will be spread across two floors within the West Stand itself. The supercasino license will allow Leeds United to install gaming machines with jackpots of up to £4,000, along with poker, black-jack and other casino games.

Full details of Leeds United’s plans, including an artist’s impression of how the redeveloped stand will look, are available here.

The new supercasino is expected to create around 700 jobs in the city, bringing up to 1,000,000 additional tourists to Leeds each year.