A dramatic expansion of casino gaming is gathering momentum in the Australian state of Queensland on the news that the Foreign Investment Review Board has approved Hong Kong financier Tony Fung’s application to purchase 340 hectares in the north of the state for a A billion-plus resort complex near the Great Barrier Reef.
The state has moved into the forefront of the country’s desire to cash in the Asian tourism boom by luring more big spenders from China and other parts of the region in competition with Macau, Singapore, Manila and, at some point in the future, with South Korea and Japan.
Australia’s 13 casinos currently capture just 1 percent of Asia’s $34 billion high-roller market.
Queensland officials are reporting strong interest across the board in its decision to license as many as three new resort-scale casinos. Nineteen companies have registered as prospective bidders, the government announced, 12 of them focused on central Brisbane, where incumbent Echo Entertainment Group is seeking permission to expand and James Packer’s Crown Resorts is lobbying for a competing license. The remaining seven have expressed an interest in projects in regional Queensland, Fung’s being the largest to date by far.
Planned for an area around the small coastal town of Yorkey’s Knob north of Cairns, Fung’s Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort could include as many as nine luxury hotels, an 18-hole golf course, a 25,000-seat sports stadium and other attractions.
Aquis Chief Executive Justin Fung said the company would take full ownership of the land once plans for the project were approved and a casino license secured.
The all-important casino license could come by way of Reef Casino Trust, which owns the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns. Aquis has concluded an agreement to buy the trust, together with Casino Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, for a total of A$269 million.
