A COMPLETE ban on any casino ever setting up in Fareham has moved a step closer after civic leaders voted overwhelmingly not to allow one in their town.

The decision, which must be ratified by the full Fareham Borough Council, would mean a blanket ban on casinos in the Fareham district for at least the next three-years and would be one of the first of its kind in the UK.

The move is in stark contrast with Fareham's neighbours Southampton. The city is expected to learn later this month whether its bid to gain a licence for one of the UK's eight proposed super-casinos has been successful.

In Gosport there is no outright ban on casinos. There are plans to charge anyone asking for a gambling licence the highest possible fees for such a licence. The move fits in with the long-term position on gambling in Fareham, which has had a strong anti-gambling policy for many years including banning fruit machines from any public place where children could easily gain access to them.

A report from the British Medical Association called on the Government to consider restricting slot machine gambling to the over-18s only after concerns that more and more children were becoming addicted to gambling.

Doctors who helped draw up the report also suggested treatment for gambling addiction should be made available for free on the NHS amid fears about the spread of the habit.

Commenting on the vote, secured by nine votes to one at a meeting this week of the council's Licensing and Regulatory Committee, the committee's chair Councillor Diana Harrison said she was happy with the decision and had been horrified at the Government's stance on gambling.

She said: "There would be no advantage to Fareham in getting a casino. We don't need the regeneration money for the town centre, and we don't need the extra jobs.

"There's no financial gain to be had, and the increase it would cause in gambling would be too great, would probably only add to the town's police work and really would give the local community no benefit whatsoever."

However not everyone agrees, including Lib Dem group leader Councillor Roger Price who was the only councillor on the committee to abstain from the vote on the grounds that he wanted each prospective application for a casino to be heard individually and judged on its own merits.

A final decision on the ban, which would need to be reviewed every three-years, now rests with the full council when it next meets on Thursday March 15.