License now up for grabs
Hong Kong gaming titan Tony Fung has pulled the plug on plans to develop an extravagant $8 billion integrated resort in Australia.
CalvinAyre.com reported that the billionaire, “spooked by the volatile conditions of the global casino industry,” dropped the Aquis casino resort project in Cairns, North Queensland after six years of planning.
In an interview with the Courier-Mail, Fung said he’s been concerned about a “nosedive” in the industry since 2014—the year Macau’s fortunes began to tumble due to an anti-corruption crackdown. Aquis hoped to target the Asian market, particularly high rollers from China, but the crackdown and a slowdown in the Chinese economy have diminished that promise.
“My original concept was casino-led,” Fung said. “But the casino industry is not the same as it was 26 months ago. Aquis GBR has been six years and lots of time, money and effort on my side, but the market has changed.” Fung instead will be “pushing ahead with plans to develop a $2 billion luxury hotel, apartment and villa complex at the Yorkey’s Knob site,” he said.
In addition to a casino, the original plan for Aquis included 4,000 luxury hotel rooms overlooking a series of lagoons. While some hoped the plan would ultimately include a gaming hall, Fung says that door is firmly shut. “In Yorkey’s Knob, the potential for development is secure,” the businessman said. “Now it is in real estate.”
Because Aquis Entertainment has canceled its casino license, other developers may now step in and apply, reported the World Casino Directory.
“There’s nothing preventing the future consideration of a casino operation at the Yorkey’s Knob development,” said Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt. “That would be subject to the availability of the regional Integrated Resort Development license. But I have to stress that there will be no preferential consideration for a casino license in the future if a later application is made.”
According to WCD, the other big guns Down Under, Crown Resorts and the Star Entertainment Group, will most likely let this one go by because they’re both engaged in projects elsewhere. But the ASF Group could take the bait. The company is hoping to win a license for its proposed $2 billion casino resort on the Gold Coast Broadwater.
