A £300m tourist attraction should be built on the site earmarked for the super-casino in east Manchester, regeneration experts have said.

A delegation has been looking at other ways of bringing jobs to the Sportcity site since the casino plan was axed.

Homes, offices, shops or an industrial estate were all ruled out as options because of "market conditions".

A report before Manchester City Council says a tourist attraction would make the biggest economic contribution.

The government has begun to prepare for a possible sale of state-owned bookmaker, the Tote, in the autumn.

But Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said that the final decision to launch the sale had not yet been taken.

Attempts to sell the business to the racing industry and a consortium backed by private equity have both fallen through in the past few years.

The Tote was established in 1928. It now employs 4,000 people and is the fourth-largest bookmaker in the UK.

Actor William Petersen is to leave CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, having been with the TV forensics drama since its first episode eight years ago.

He will still make guest appearances as Gil Grissom but his character will no longer be seen on a regular basis, two of the show’s executive producers said.

His final episode is likely to be broadcast early next year as part of the programme’s 10th series.

Several characters will return in storylines leading up to his departure.

Pictures of an armed robbery at a Lincolnshire betting shop have been released by police.

The stills from the in-store CCTV system at the Ladbrokes in Butlins at Skegness show the man threatening staff late on Monday.

Officers said the two women who were working at the time were left badly shaken but unhurt.

Detectives believe the robber may well be living or holidaying in the Skegness or Ingoldmells area.

Business reporter, BBC News

Stanley Ho made his fortune from Macau’s lucrative casino trade but the billionaire has struggled to adapt to the tiny territory’s changing fortunes.

Mr Ho’s firm, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), which had a monopoly on gambling for four decades until 2002, has lost out to slicker, foreign rivals who are attempting to transform Macau into Asia’s Las Vegas.

SJM’s share of gambling revenue in the former Portuguese territory, which surpassed the Las Vegas strip in 2006, declined to 40% in 2007 from 75% in 2005, a year after the first foreign company set up shop.