Insidethegames has learned that City and Eastern and Apollo are questioning Newham Council's right to grant a license to a third company, Aspers, to build a casino within the adjacent Westfield Stratford City shopping centre.

With Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient both fighting the decision to allow West Ham United to move to Stratford in 2014 after the Olympics and Paralympics, the latest moves have heaped even more pressure on the local Council which is now under attack on four fronts.

"The Gambling Act of 2009 makes it very clear that as party of any casino bid, regeneration has to form a significant element," a spokesman for City and Eastern told insidethegames.

"Our project and that of Apollo both had over £250 million ($405 million) of urban regeneration.

"This deal has been done behind closed doors in the dark.

"Why wasn't the bidding process open?"

West Ham were handed the keys to the £537 million ($836 million) Olympic Stadium after the Government and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, approved the Olympic Park Legacy Company's decision to grant the East London club, which has just been relegated from the Premier League, preferred bidder status mainly because of greater legacy association with the area.

Tottenham were unhappy with the process which led to West Ham being chosen as the winner and applied for a judicial review into Newham Council's role in arranging a £40 million ($65 million) loan to finance West Ham's move.

The club then widened their appeal and asked the High Court to start a separate judicial review into the roles of several other parties involved.

With Newham controversially part-funding the joint Olympic project, further questions will inevitably now be raised about why the Council granted a licence for a casino to be placed inside a shopping centre rather than opt for one of the other two projects.

City and Eastern's application, for example, comprised a 1.26 million square foot development complex including 720 homes, conference centre, hotel, bars, restaurants as well as the actual casino area.

One possible explanation is that Newham made its decision partly to recoup some of the money it is putting up for the Stadium project and partly to offset any objections the shopping centre may have about a football team moving to an adjacent site.

With both Tottenham, Orient and the two casino chains questioning the same rationale of decision-making, it is understood that lawyers from all four parties are now sharing information to see if is any common ground.

Fergus Kinloch, Director of City and Eastern, said it was clear his organisation never had a chance of winning the bid – exactly the same argument being used by Tottenham

"Newham Council has in our view needlessly turned away over £250 million ($405 million) of investment plus substantial financial benefits for local residents, and at a time when councils are having to make major spending cuts," he said.

"The whole situation quite simply beggars belief and certainly doesn't work in the best interests of Newham residents."

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