The controversial decision to site the UK's first super-casino in Manchester is to be re-examined by MPs and peers.
Peers have thrown out the decision to site the UK's first super-casino in Manchester by just three votes.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell offered the concession as debates began in the Commons and Lords on the plans which are facing challenges in both Houses.
It means the plans will not be implemented, whatever the result of a separate vote in the Commons.
It is not yet clear whether the planned joint committee could overthrow the Manchester choice, or just look at how it was made and advise on the future.
The Lords vote also means that plans for 16 smaller casinos around the UK will have to be shelved.
MPs and lords are debating the plans at the moment with votes due by 1900 BST.
Manchester was picked by an independent panel ahead of the frontrunners Blackpool and the Dome, but peers rejected this by 123 to 120.
Dozens of Labour rebels are expected to vote with the Tories against the order.
They voted in favour of an amendment which effectively threw out the plans.
Amendment
Ms Jowell said she would accept an amendment, tabled in the Lords by Baroness Golding.
It calls for a joint committee "to consider the [Casino Advisory] Panel's report in detail before any decision is arrived at with regard to issuing casino premises licences".
However, it was unclear if the amendment was being carried with her exact wording, as Baroness Golding said she was pleased that an "interpretation" had been accepted.
The votes also cover 16 other planned casinos. Defeat in either house will send the plans back to the drawing board.
Manchester was controversially picked by an independent panel ahead of the frontrunners Blackpool and the Dome.
More than 100 MPs - including 83 Labour - have previously signed a parliamentary motion expressing "surprise and regret" at the recommendation.
What we want is an opportunity for Blackpool's bid to be properly considered Joan HumbleLabour MP Analysis: Minister's gamble
Supporters of Blackpool's bid - which was tipped as the favourite - say it is needed there to improve the town's fortunes.
Ms Jowell said she understood that people were opposed to the licences on two levels: a moral objection to gambling and a belief that the super-casino should be in Blackpool.
She said the government had asked the independent panel to make recommendations, rather than relying on ministers.
"That is why I have not simply overturned the panel's recommendation and inserted Blackpool instead of Manchester," she told the Commons.
"That would fly in the face of the evidence, but it would also have been grossly unfair to every one of the local authorities who took part in a published and agreed process in good faith."
Shadow culture secretary Hugo Swire said if the Gambling Order was split with the other 16 casinos separate from the single super-casino, the Tories would support it.
Tories' vote
He said his party wanted further scrutiny of the panel's decision, which would only take between four and six weeks.
"We are voting against this order, but it is not a vote against the Casino Advisory Panel or a vote against Manchester. It is a vote for further Parliamentary scrutiny," Mr Swire said.
Leading Labour rebel, Joan Humble, MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, said: "It's always difficult to estimate how much of that concern will translate into either a vote against or abstention.
"The government should be aware that what we want is an opportunity for Blackpool's bid to be properly considered. We want fairness in this," added the MP.
'Closer scrutiny'
Ms Humble said her emphasis was on the super-casino location, and she was disappointed that the vote was for all 17 casinos.
"What I want is that the government recognises there is little controversy over the 16 large and small casinos. They could and should be dealt with now," she told the BBC.
CASINO SIZES Super: minimum customer area of 5,000 sq m and up to 1,250 unlimited-jackpot slot machines. Large: minimum area of 1,000 sq m and up to 150 slot machines with a maximum jackpot of £4,000. Small: minimum customer area of 750 sq m, up to 80 slot machines and a jackpot of £4,000.
The Gambling Order grants the powers to issue licences for new casinos.
Neither MPs nor peers can vote to change the locations, so critics will have to vote against the entire order.
In the Commons that will be a straight vote, but in the Lords there are expected to be two votes, one of which would kill the plans, and the other which would express unhappiness but not kill them off.
The Casino Advisory Panel chose Manchester as the super-casino venue in January.
It also recommended that large casinos should be licensed at Great Yarmouth, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, Solihull and Southampton.
And it said small casinos should be sited at Bath and North East Somerset, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton.
