A giant casino next to the Olympic Park will get the go-ahead after a legal challenge by rival bidders was withdrawn.
Newham council awarded Westfield Stratford City and its gaming operating partner Aspers casino rights for a Las Vegas-style gambling hall five months ago. The decision prompted Apollo Genting and City & Eastern, which had also bid for the licence, to launch an application for a judicial review in the High Court.
However the two decided "reluctantly" to pull out before a preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, citing the costs and time involved in the process.
Newham council said last night: "The council's decision-making process to award the casino premises licence to Aspers was robust and fair. We are pleased the claims have been withdrawn and see this as a vindication of our approach."
It was claimed the casino and shopping complex were part of a wider plan to regenerate one of London's poorest boroughs.
But the rival bidders argued, however, that the plan would bring few benefits beyond the 400 jobs directly created by the shopping centre casino.
Apollo Genting, a joint venture between Apollo Resorts & Leisure and gaming operator Genting, said its own plans would have offered 2,000 full time jobs at Silvertown Quays in Docklands.
Its larger, 400,000 sq ft mixed-use complex, which included a casino, had been rejected in favour of a "quicker and smaller-benefit solution".
A company spokesman told Property Week: "We maintain that our submission would have delivered the greatest benefits to Newham in terms of jobs, investment, training, education and kick-starting the brownfield site. However, the council decided they wanted a quicker and smaller-benefit
solution."
He added: "We have other greater and clearer opportunities in our businesses that we wanted to focus on. And while that in no way suggests we didn't think we had a good chance with the judicial review, these things take months and years to get through."
City & Eastern was leading a consortium with plans for a casino within a £250 million mixed-use regeneration project at Gallions Reach in Docklands.
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The plans included 1,200 full-time jobs. A spokesman said: "The decision to withdraw was made reluctantly as we still firmly believe Newham has wasted an opportunity for additional regeneration and income for the borough."
