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Ministers are considering their options following last night's unexpected rejection of plans to build a supercasino in Manchester.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell had told MPs there was "no plan B" before yesterday's crucial parliamentary vote on the government's secondary legislation, which would also have established 17 smaller casinos across the UK.

After the House of Lords defeated the gambling order proposals by a majority of just three votes, Ms Jowell admitted that she would have to reassess her options.

"What we now need to do without making any judgment about the options available to us is to go back and to consider a whole range of possibilities and then come forward with the next steps," she told BBC Radio 4 after the vote last night.

She said enthusiasm for the casinos existed both among the business stakeholders and the House of Commons, which approved the order by a majority of 24.

The Commons' approval came after Ms Jowell had offered substantial concession on a key issue of contention - the process through which the advisory panel reached its recommendations to approve Manchester for the supercasino location over pre-decision favourite Blackpool.

That issue motivated the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Clement-Jones, who introduced the amendment which brought down the government's initiative.

"Clearly we got it wrong the first time around; the remit was wrong and the process was wrong and we need a joint select committee of both houses to sort it out," he told the BBC.