SOUTHAMPTON bosses learned today (May 24) that the city is still on course to be the site of the south's east's only "large" casino.

Civic chiefs have until December to convince the government that Southampton is the best city to site the casino.

They must argue their case against bids from the cathedral city of Canterbury and the south coast resorts of Brighton and Hastings who are also competing for the right to build the new gaming facility.

Southampton made the final shortlist drawn up by the independent "Casino Advisory Panel" which were announced this morning.

However, the city lost out against its plans to build the country's only "super casino" to bids from Blackpool, Manchester and London.

A spokesman for Southampton City Council said: "It was always going to be a tough struggle against London which is only 60 miles away but the prospect of a large casino is still a great opportunity for the city providing all the safeguards can be put in place to protect vulnerable people from the negative effects of gambling."

The casino would kick start plans to redevelop the city's derelict Royal Pier and Town Quay - creating around 2,000 new jobs and injecting around £75m into Southampton's economy.

See tomorrow's Daily Echo for an in-depth look at how Southampton can win the case for a casino in the city