A BOROUGH has missed out on the chance to house the country's only super casino after being booted off the contenders list.

The Government's Casino Advisory Panel has announced Dartford Council has been unsuccessful in its bid to attract the 5,000sq m casino to the town.

It faced competition from 26 other local authorities and the panel has now reduced the shortlist to eight contenders, including Greenwich and Blackpool.

But the council could still be in line for one of the country's 16 smaller casinos, as the panel confirmed it has been selected to battle it out against 31 other local authorities for one of these.

The council applied to the panel in March to be in the running for both casinos.

The shortlist for the smaller casinos was reduced from 67 candidates.

Land near the Ebbsfleet station site, owned by property developer Land Securities, has been chosen as the site for any future casino.

The smaller casinos will be between 1,000sq m and 750sq m and have between 150 and 80 slot machines with maximum jackpots of £4,000.

Council leader Councillor Jeremy Kite said: "We were hoping for one of the smaller casinos anyway.

"The chances of us getting a super casino in the first place were fairly remote in comparison to the other candidates.

"We'll now go out to public consultation, which I'm happy with as it's a sensible idea. We're going to get started pretty soon. I want to get started this side of summer."

Cllr Kite says he will hold a series of public meetings and talks with the borough's religious leaders to listen to their views about the casino plan.

He is promising residents a casino would not come to Dartford if they were against it and said: "I'm happy to deal with all of the responses we receive.

"If people decide they don't want it then we will support them in that."

A final decision will be made by the Government in October.

At a cabinet meeting on May 25 councillors agreed to accept a gaming code of conduct as laid down by the Gambling Comission, which regulates the industry.

They pledged gambling in the borough would not lead to crime and disorder, be carried out fairly and not lead to exploitation of children or the vulnerable.