Newcastle FC to build £100m casino complex

Premiership football club Newcastle United has teamed up with US company MGM Mirage to build a massive hotel and casino complex alongside its city centre stadium.

The two companies have formed a 50:50 joint venture to develop the complex, which will be situated above Newcastle's St James' metro station. MGM is said to have paid £5m for its share in the site, which is owned by Newcastle United.

Details of what the complex will feature are still sketchy, but as well as a hotel it will comprise a 100,000sq ft Las Vegas-style casino, several shops and residential apartments. Completion of the development, which is likely to cost between £100m and £150m, depends on the implementation of proposed gambling law reforms in this country and obtaining the required planning approvals.

Terry Lanni, chairman and chief executive of MGM Mirage, said: "We have ambitious plans for the UK - deregulation and taxation levels permitting - and we are looking at other opportunities across the country to develop casino facilities of varying sizes, including, where market conditions warrant, large-scale hotel-casino destination resorts."