The midlands are on the verge of getting their first ‘large casino’ after it emerged that plans to use the Birmingham NEC as the venue are at an advanced stage.

Birmingham is one of more than 60 local authorities who applied to the Casino Advisory Panel for a large Casino licence and now the local City Council are expected to back Casino plans.

The Birmingham Casino will be one of eight ‘large’ such venues nationwide and will be located at the Solihull site.

If the proposal is rubber-stamped by the Government, NEC Ltd wants to move ahead with its plans as quickly as possible and hopes to have a developer on board by the end of the year.

The NEC missed out of getting a licence to build a regional Casino having to settle for a ‘large’ one instead.

Reacting to the announcement at the time Deborah Smith, marketing and communications director of the NEC Group said "We are extremely surprised and disappointed at this decision given the immense strength of the Birmingham/Solihull bid. We are particularly disappointed that there is no Midlands bid in the shortlist for the regional casino given that our central location and outstanding air, rail, and transport links would have offered a genuinely national test for a regional casino proposal, in a region which has some of the highest levels of deprivation in the country.”

She added” However, we are delighted that Solihull is on the shortlist for a large casino and our aim now is to convince the Casino Advisory Panel of the compelling merits of our location. Whilst this would not have the same level of impact in terms of jobs and regeneration as a regional casino we still believe it would be an important next step to further strengthen the vitally important business tourism sector in the West Midlands and revitalise our economy.”