Bradford has now officially entered the race to secure one of a new breed of Las Vegas-style casinos.

Formal proposals for a new casino with up to 150 slot machines have been put forward by Council chiefs.

The Casino Advisory Panel yesterday confirmed Bradford was among 41 local authorities in the running for one of 16 new casinos to be licensed nationally.

The authority's ruling executive committee decided to apply for the licence in March when members agreed a 30,000 sq ft casino could act as a spark for regeneration.

Council bosses must now wait up to two months before they hear whether their bid is good enough to go beyond even the first stage.

Under the controversial Gambling Act, half the establishments will be allowed 150 slot machines with a jackpot limit of £4,000. The other half will be allowed up to 80, with the same prize limits.

All of the casinos will also be allowed to set up a bookmaker inside and the larger ones will be able to run bingo.

Bradford has not applied for a regional "super-casino" licence - this will be introduced on a trial basis and offer unlimited jackpots.

Professor Stephen Crow, chairman of the Casino Advisory Panel, said initial sifting of the applications would be completed later in the year.

He said: "These proposals represent a lot of hard work by the people that have prepared them and, very often, a lot of difficult decision-making also. They all deserve nothing less than fair and thorough examination.

"Over the next few weeks all the proposals - and the evidence supporting them - will be considered very carefully to see how well they measure up.

"We expect that this process will last at least six to eight weeks and would ask for forbearance during this initial evaluation period."

Prof Crow said the panel would be making no more comments until the evaluation process was complete and selected proposals go forward to a further examination over the summer.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell wants the panel's final recommendations by the end of the year.