London Briefing: Stakes are high and getting higher in the high-rolling London casinos market, with Stanley Leisure becoming the second listed gaming group to attract an overseas bid within the past fortnight.

The £639 million (€944 million) offer for Stanley from Genting International, owned by Malaysia's third-richest family, follows the £279 million offer in late August for its smaller rival, London Clubs International (LCI), from Las Vegas-based Harrah's Entertainment, owner of the famous Caesars Palace.

Before the overseas bidders moved in, Stanley and LCI had been holding their own merger talks.

Behind the bid frenzy is the pending deregulation of the British gaming industry, a shake-up that will include the granting of 17 new casino licences. These include the controversial licence for a "super casino" which may, or may not, find a home at the Millennium Dome in London's Greenwich.

Casinos will be allowed to advertise for the first time and the 24-hour rule, which forced punters to wait a full day after registering at a casino before they were able to play, will be abolished.

Industry experts predict an explosion of pent-up demand from punters. At present, only around 2 per cent of the British public are said to have set foot inside a casino, compared with as many as 30 per cent in the more developed US market.

Overseas gaming groups are now rushing to secure a foothold in the British market, which they also intend to use as a springboard for expansion into the rest of Europe.

The Genting deal has been agreed by Stanley founder, Lord (Leonard) Steinberg of Belfast, who has pledged his 11 per cent stake to the Malaysians and stands to make more than £60 million from the deal.

From a modest start in Belfast, Stanley is now Britain's largest casinos group, with 45 casinos around the country, including four in the important London market.

The business was started in the 1950s by Belfast-born Lord Steinberg, who is due to retire at the end of the year. He is said to have first tried his hand at bookmaking as a schoolboy, when classmates asked him to stake their bets on the 1954 Derby. After calculating the risk, he and a friend decided to take the bet themselves, rather than using a bookmaker and walked away with a handsome profit of £1 apiece.

The young Steinberg had been set for a career as an accountant, but took over the family business at the age of 18 after the death of his father. The business included a betting shop which his father had run as a hobby.

Leonard expanded the betting side, opening two shops in Belfast and later moving into the Republic and Britain, naming the company Stanley Leisure after his late father.

The bookmaking side was sold to rival William Hill last year, enabling Lord Steinberg to concentrate on the casinos.

Genting now owns 30.5 per cent of Stanley but the City is convinced that at least one counter-bidder will emerge, possibly the American MGM Mirage group or Las Vegas Sands, another American gaming group.

There is also a strong possibility that Harrar's, currently bidding for LCI, might make a rival offer, with the aim of merging Stanley with LCI.

There is a chance of a counter-bid for LCI - Genting is sitting on a near-30 per cent stake in the company and has, as yet, given no indication of its plans for the stake.

Shares in Stanley Leisure climbed above the 860p a share Malaysian terms yesterday amid heavy turnover, as City punters gambled that the game was far from over.

Cheap chic clothing boom falters

Has the fashion world's love affair with cheap chic come to an end? Fashionistas' favourite Primark certainly sent a shudder through the "fast fashion" industry on Monday with the revelation that its underlying sales growth shuddered to a halt over the past six months.

The cut-price clothing chain, which trades as Penneys in Ireland and is owned by Associated British Foods, has been feted in recent years by the fashion press. Its sales have surged to more than £1 billion as bargain-conscious shoppers flocked to buy its £3 T-shirts and £10 polka dot dresses.

But while its overall sales have rocketed on the back of a huge expansion of the chain - new stores are opening at the rate of one a week - underlying sales growth has been flat in the second half. That will leave growth for the year to September 16th at 3 per cent.

The figures alarmed some analysts, who fear the chain's huge expansion is cannibalising existing sales. They also point to a fight back by rivals such as Tesco and Asda, as well as the resurgent Marks & Spencer.

But the market should not over-react to the latest sales figures from Primark. The company is up against hugely demanding comparisons - in the second half last year, underlying sales surged by 12 per cent, far outstripping its competitors. Such a performance could never be sustained in the longer term.

Profits will continue to be boosted as the newly converted Littlewoods stores come on line and, the move into Spain is said to be going well. Fast fashion isn't finished; it's just taking a little breather.

Fiona Walsh writes for the Guardian newspaper in London.