A super-casino at the National Exhibition Centre would provide more jobs for the West Midlands' displaced car workers than a rival bid from Coventry, it has been claimed.

Officials at the NEC said former workers would benefit from more than 7,000 job opportunities generated at the Solihull complex if its ambitious scheme is given the go-ahead.

The claim comes after council leaders in Coventry called on the Government to give the UK's only proposed super-casino licence to the city's Ricoh Arena, where 1,000 jobs will be created, days after it was announced that the Peugeot plant in Ryton was to close.

Deborah Smith, marketing and communications director at the NEC, said the region was in desperate need of a scheme that would provide regeneration and employment opportunities following the collapse of some of the Midlands' largest employers.

Last month French carmaker Peugeot announced the Ryton plant would close with the loss of 2,300 jobs. The closure, after 60 years of car production, follows the shutdown of the nearby Jaguar factory, with the loss of 1,000 jobs, and the collapse of MG Rover a year ago which left 6,000 Long-bridge employees out of work.

Ms Smith said the 1,000 jobs at the Ricoh Arena would not be sufficient to soften the blow of the Peugeot redundancies and the NEC proposal "outguns the Ricoh Arena on almost every count" in terms of regeneration opportunities for the region.

"In employment terms, in a city still recovering from the Rover plant closure, we also offer the biggest potential pool of new opportunities with up to 7,000 direct and indirect jobs from construction through to when the casino is open for business," she said.

"Given the NEC's strategic role as an economic driver for the Midlands and its 30-year performance in sustaining thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of income for the region, the NEC's regional casino proposal is the one best placed to support the local economy.

"Based on our past performance of employing people from across the West Midlands, the NEC could actually help Coventry recover from the loss of jobs at Peugeot as well as supporting North Solihull and Birmingham which has the greatest employment need in the region."

The NEC is keen to promote the regeneration possibilities of its super-casino scheme, as the wider economic benefits of its proposals have recently been over-shadowed by Birmingham City Football Club's plans for a super-stadium and casino in Saltley.

That scheme was shelved after Birmingham City Council decided to throw its weight behind Solihull Council, which is backing the NEC bid.

The NEC announced last December details of its plans to build a giant gaming centre and hotel complex in conjunction with Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage.

Andrew Morris, the chief executive of the NEC, claimed the proposals would provide a financial lifeline to Birmingham City Council with #350 million flowing into the local authority's coffers over the first ten years.

He said the cash could be used to revitalise inner-city areas in Birmingham hit with low unemployment, or to build a stadium based on the plans previously submitted by the Blues.

Meanwhile, cabinet members in Coventry have been heavily promoting a 90,000 sq ft casino at the Ricoh Stadium, the new home of Coventry City FC, which they say would provide 1,000 jobs.