A group of themed casinos is set to open across the Black Country which will create a minimum of 300 jobs.
The casinos at Dudley, Wolverhampton, Warley and Walsall mark the first venture by Blue Chip Casinos.
There will be more of a social club atmosphere with popular bar areas, restaurants and buffet facilities together with regular live entertainment programme.
Small ticket, high volume gaming will be offered, unlike the London Mayfair scene
The existing Castle Hill Casino in Dudley will be re-developed with a medieval theme, "creating a second Dudley Castle".
Three more themed casinos are being planned including an ancient Roman themed 'Rubicon' Casino in Wolverhampton, and an Italian style 'Sorrento' casino in Walsall.
Subject to consent and licensing, it is expected that these casinos will be opened in April and May 2004 respectively.
The operator's fourth casino, taking up an ocean liner art deco theme 'Queens' Casino in Warley, is expected to open later in the year pending the outcome of an appeal against the recent decision of the planning authority.
The concept of Blue Chip Casinos came from a discussion two years ago between Russell Stevens, chief executive of Meriden Group and an experienced casino operator.
Mr Stevens invited Arthur Baker to join the board, because of his experience in leisure sites, acquisition and development as a former director of The Little Pub Company.
The board was then further strengthened by the addition of non executive chairman Graham Gibson who was previously managing director of Stanley Leisure's casino division and Colin Parry as financial director, together with Brian Lemon, secretary of the Casino Operators' Association as a non-executive director.
Originally the board intended to bring the company to the AIM market but due to the depressed state of the stockmarket they then proceeded to raise privately £8.5 million to fund the launch of Blue Chip Casinos.
Isle of Capri, a large US casino operator has invested in Blue Chip and is the first US operator to gain certification from the UK gaming authorities.
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