Australia’s legislative assembly recently approved allowing Casino Canberra, owned by Hong Kong-based Aquis Entertainment, to acquire up to 200 poker machines and 60 automated table games, in return for redeveloping the site and adopting harm-minimization programs. Attorney General Gordon Ramsay said, “Minimizing the harm that comes with electronic gaming machines and maximizing the benefits to Canberra of this change are the goals of the new framework.”
Aquis officials said the company will spend $330 million to rebuild the casino into a resort-style entertainment, dining and retail complex, which would attract 750,000 additional visitors a year to Canberra, including high-end Chinese gamblers. “What this means is that when gaming machines begin to operate at the casino, they will be part of a renewed entertainment precinct for Canberrans to enjoy,” Ramsay said.
The action marks the first time since the casino was built in 1994 that poker machines and automated table games will be available to casino customers. It breaks the monopoly on gambling devices held by clubs and hotels.
The new legislation will require the casino to do a social impact analysis which will be open for feedback for eight weeks on the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission’s website.
Under the legislation, gamblers will have to predetermine how much they are prepared to lose on the casino’s poker machines over 24 hours. Also, they will be limited to $2 per spin, compared to the $10 spins allowed in clubs. Additionally, Ramsay said, “Both the gaming machines and the terminals must be able to be connected to a central monitoring system that supports gaming integrity, data and tax collection.”
He noted, “This legislation has no dependence at all on who owns the license for the casino so if it were the case the current licensee sold at some stage to a later one, the very same restrictions would be on the organization who then owned the license at that stage. There’s no moving out or getting around the regulations.”
Aquis bought the casino late in 2014 as its entry into the Australian market; it has plans for a larger casino in Queensland.
