PLANS for Las Vegas-style casinos and fruit machines with '1m jackpots were approved in the Commons, despite a revolt against the government scheme by Labour MPs.

But Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell is under pressure to make more concessions because Tony Blair's 159 majority was halved after a six-and-a-half hour debate on the Gambling Bill.

Dozens of Labour MPs stayed away and 29 voted against the Bill's second reading, including David Chaytor (Bury North) and Terry Lewis (Worsley).

But the Bill went through, with a majority of 74, despite criticisms and after a pledge by Ms Jowell to prevent casinos getting planning permission "by the back door".

Changes

The Labour MP for Blackpool, Joan Humble, said that people in the resort were in favour of allowing big new casinos as long as they went hand-in-hand with regeneration of the area.

But even she said that there should be changes as the Bill goes through parliament.

Ms Jowell assured MPs that there would be no new casinos if residents did not want them. She has predicted there would be no more than 40 of the super casinos but some Labour MPs believe that even this is too many and that a handful should be tested first in resorts, such as Blackpool. Among the critics of the Bill were Donald Anderson, Labour chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, who said there was a world of difference between ordinary people who visited bingo halls and those who went to mega casinos.

"Why can't you have pilot schemes to see what would happen in the real world?" he asked.

Former Labour Health Secretary Frank Dobson said the reforms were "wrong and unpopular", Tory John Whittingdale said the Bill was "fatally flawed" and would increase gambling addiction, and Liberal Democrat spokesman Don Foster said that people did not want to see their areas given a facelift if it brought significant misery for people lured into casinos.

Teenage gamblers suffer from higher-than-average levels of substance abuse and psychiatric problems, scientists said today.

US researchers found 16 and 17-year-olds who gambled were more likely to be depressed and addicted to drink and drugs than non-gamblers.

A similar trend was seen among young adults aged 18 to 29 who had been gambling since their early teens.