Tayside's first 24 hour casino is to open in Dundee.

Councillors have granted a round-the-clock gambling licence to the new Grosvenor Casino at West Marketgait which is due to open in October.

The casino operators say they will employ more than 100 people and bring a new dimension to the city's entertainment sector.

But the news has been criticised by the Church of Scotland, who are concerned it will put vulnerable gamblers at greater risk.

Grosvenor Casino General Manager Linda Hodes said: "It means that we will open from day one on 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“For the company it just means that we can attract different segments of the market place so it might be people coming for lunch or a breakfast meeting for business.

“It could be anything so a lot more opportunities to appeal to a wider number of people."

However Reverend Ian Galloway of the Church of Scotland said: "There are already about 250,000 people in the UK that have serious gambling problems. This is not going to do anything to reduce that a bit.

“It's providing poorly paid jobs in an industry that's designed to make people poor and the price will really be paid in the end by vulnerable people and their families and the costs are immense in these families and in these lives."