Just a note to say that further to writing last week about Westfield's interest in building the UK's first "large" casino at the Stratford City site, the full list of applicants can now be disclosed.
Newham council has supplied a helpful list of applicants which reveals that the Borough's key development sites are vying for the development opportunity.
Westfield and Damian Aspinall's Aspers Group are the only partners to have publicly thrown their hat into the ring ahead of the 26 May deadline for initial expressions of interest.
That's no doubt because there are few complications around assembling their site - it's up and running after all.
However, Newham received five other initial expressions of interest.
The biggest surprise is probably operator Apollo Resorts & Leisure's decision to approach the London Development Agency about developing a casino as part of the regeneration of the 68-acre Silvertown Quays site at Royal Victoria Docks, E16.
The LDA is after all currently pursuing a High Court ruling to ratify the termination of its development agreement with David Taylor's Silvertown Quays Ltd consortium at the site.
However, a spokesman told me the agency is open to the idea: "The London Development Agency believes a casino could help bring additional investment to the Royal Docks but the LDA has not entered into any provisional arrangements with any potential casino operators.
"Any application to set up a casino would go through the normal planning process, which includes full public consultation."
The LDA has also been approached by operator Grosvenor Casinos about building the casino at its Royals Business Park where it is working up plans for a 3m sq ft mixed-use development.
Elsewhere a consortium called the Great Eastern Quays Casino is targeting a site at Great Eastern Quays at Gallions Reach, E16, while Genting Casinos UK is proposing to develop the casino on Broadway to the south of the Stratford Centre in Stratford.
Churchill Lincoln is the final applicant bidding for a site yet to be confirmed.
A winner is expected to be announced on 23 December.
Newham wants to see a casino of up to 37,000 sq ft built as part of a "significant leisure and entertainment destination for London and the South East".
Newham was one of eight regional locations selected by the government in 2007 to be granted licences for the UK's first "large" casinos. It is the first formally to seek operators and development partners.
Solihull metropolitan borough council in the West Midlands is set to be the second authority to begin seeking partners for a large casino venue, subject to a cabinet decision on 24 March.
A Newham council spokeswoman said: "Newham council wants to see the casino as part of a wider major leisure and entertainment destination which contributes to regeneration and creates jobs for local people. We are committed to choosing an operator or developer with a proven track record of delivering a project of this scale and with a sufficient expertise in gaming operations and the associated responsibilities."
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