Church of England being Lobbied to Oppose Super Casino

A huge gambling company is making an attempt to sway a Church of England's bishop who is strongly opposed to plans for the creation and licensure of a Las Vegas style mega casino. This particular bishop is strongly opposed to legalized gambling and hopes are, by changing his views, the entire Church of England may reduce or abandon their opposition against the super casino.

The Sun City Casino group based in South African has conferred with the Right Reverend John Nicholls, Bishop of Sheffield, to talk about how Church of England projects, such as homeless centers, could benefit from the millions of dollars the controversial resort casino complex once the approval for the mega casino site is determined and opened. The fact that this firm is lobbying the Anglican bishop may heighten worries about plans to establish the mega casino with 1,250 slot machines and operated under the rules of unlimited jackpots.
Original plans were for eight super casinos to be licensed but that number was reduced from eight to one as a result of formal protests from Church of England leaders, and groups with anti-gambling agendas as well as Labour MPs. These critics allege that new venues will only serve to fuel the United Kingdom's instances of gambling addiction and result in thousands of families placed in financial and moral ruin as well as ending up with huge debts.
Sheffield, one of the eight cities on the short list that are hoping to gain approval to host the mega casino, is seem by some as a favorite in the race because it has three different plans from rival developers wanting to build in that location. Bishop Nicholls, already having made his opposing views clear to the House of Lords, is not vying for local opposition to the plan.

Sun International, the Sun City British sister corporation, has proposed to build Sheffield's Don Valley stadium and has obviously strived to win over the support of the Church of England bishop. Neil Murphy, Sun International's managing director, visited the bishop at his resident and held private discussions of how charitable projects would benefit financially if the approval for a super casino went through as hoped. The bishop was informed that, should Sheffield win the site award, the developer would submit 'planning gain', totaling millions of pounds to the council in a system that permits councils to ensure payments from developers go into community benefits. It is thought that, included in the talks, were promises to fund projects operated by the Church of England as well as other voluntary groups. The funding for a Church of England-backed project that assists Sheffield's homeless known as the Archers Centre would be recipient of some of the funding.

Murphy admits to last evening's meeting with Bishop Nicholls but insists that he did not offer to make any payment to a particular project or program in order to sway the bishop's views. He stressed that only general conversation about community project support if a super casino received approval was the subject of the evening.

Speaking as a representative of Bishop Nicholls stated that the bishop remains opposed to any casino in the South of Yorkshire. The bishop does recognizes the pressure building up in support of the super casino but that should this be approved, he will both privately and publicly make clear that approval is completely against his will even though he hopes the community might somehow benefit.