Fung project also stalled
Hundreds of residents and business owners on Great Keppel Island are pushing to get a casino license for the $2 billion resort being built in their backyard. GKI is located off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia.
According to the Courier Mail, islanders staged a public rally in support of a boutique gaming room at the planned five-star development. The government of Premier Anna Palaszczuk has nixed a license for the Great Barrier Reef development, preferring Cairns and the Gold Coast as better locations.
Developer Tower Holdings is behind the “eco-luxury resort,” which will feature a 250-room hotel, 700 villas, 300 apartments, a marina, a Greg Norman golf course and an airport. The company says a mini-casino—just 35 tables, open only to guests—would attract the investors it needs to begin construction.
But State Development Minister Anthony Lynham says Tower “was never awarded a casino license, there is no spare casino license, and further casinos for Queensland are not on this government’s agenda.’’
To the north in Cairns, the Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry is eager to approve Tony Fung’s multibillion-dollar Aquis resort and casino at Yorkeys Knob. Fung is still negotiating with the government over a gaming license, according to abc.net.
CCIQ’s Nick Behrens says time is of the essence. “If those dollars don’t accrue to far north Queensland, they will go elsewhere. And we think that would be a shame because that project in itself will be a significant contributor to economic growth in far north Queensland and will be a significant contributor to addressing the youth unemployment problem that Cairns currently experiences,” he said.
At the rally outside a local high school, Palaszczuk told residents she wants the Queensland project to go ahead. “To us that means jobs. The former government said that there will be three casino licenses,” she said. “We don’t know at this stage if all three are going to get up. And who knows, down the track there may be an opportunity to apply for that casino license.”
