It seems the Government’s plan to have the first ever British super casino built in Manchester could turn into an embarrassing fiasco.

This week one of the world's leading experts on gambling will question the decision to award the licence to Manchester.

Professor Peter Collins, who helped draw up the Government’s gambling legislation in 2003, will tell peers the conclusions reached by the Casino Advisory Panel (CAP) were “often arbitrary, highly disputable, and based on reasoning which is frequently inconsistent, superficial and ill-informed”.

A House of Lords committee will tomorrow question a number of key people about the controversial choice of Manchester.

Sports Minister Richard Caborn and Prof Stephen Crow – the CAP chairman – have been called to answer questions.

Prof Collins, the Director of the Study of Gambling at Salford University, will claim the five CAP members, who were appointed by the Government, lacked sufficient expertise to realise that much of the evidence presented to them by the bid teams was based on “dishonest” research.

He will suggest the panel was blinded by the “presentational brilliance” of the Manchester bid, which included a “highly professional assault” on the application from Blackpool. I

He also claims that the panel wrongly allowed the Manchester team to include an attack on Blackpool, which had emerged as the late favourite to win the licence.

Opposition to a supercasino in Manchester is growing.

Two Early Day Motions condemning the choice have been signed by 120 MPs. The Houses of Commons is expected to vote before Easter on whether to accept the decision.

The decision will then transfer to the Lords where it will be ratified or thrown out.

It’s been rumoured around Whitehall that heads may roll if it’s discovered that the appointed panel made the wrong decision.