Thread: Is this dangerous or bad practice?

Code:

Level* LoadLevel(const string& fileName)
{
  Level& level = *(new Level(GetFileModTime(fileName)));
  ....
  return &level;
}

instead of

Code:

Level* LoadLevel(const string& fileName)
{
  Level* level = new Level(GetFileModTime(fileName));
  ....
  return level;
}

I just need to use operators on the level object, which is more annoying when its a pointer.