The proposed gambling bill has caused anger among Labour backbenchers, which claim there should be a cap on the number of super casinos to be built in the UK.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell came under fierce criticism from MPs during the second reading of the gaming bill on 1 November and was forced to defend the proposals.

Jowell, responding to concerns over the amount of Las Vegas style-casinos to be built following the change in law, insisted that a cap was unnecessary as the number of large regional casinos would only be between 20 and 40.

The government, however, now looks likely to consider introducing a limit on the number of large casinos in order to save the bill, as a number of Labour MPs joined Liberal Democrat and Conservative members in voting against the bill.

In the end, the bill made it through the second reading only after its majority in the house was halved to 74 with 212 votes cast against it.

A day before voting – in an interview given to the Sunday Telegraph – Jowell denied that there were disagreements over the bill inside the cabinet office, dubbing reports over an alleged spat between Jowell and chancellor Gordon Brown as “rubbish”.

The bill will now move onto the committee stage before its third reading.