JULY 3,
2014
Casino News
Kirby Garlitos.
Commission
has expressed concern that Chinesebillionaire Tony Fung‘s purchase of the Reef Casino Trust would
shut down any form of competition between the casino and
Fung’s proposed$7.5m Aquis development, leaving customers with a lack of options
should they decide to go to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef for a
little gambling action.
Fung’s
purchase of the competition also flies against the state government’s
mission of creating more employment opportunities and stimulating the
economy. There would still be local venues with gambling machines,
but only the naive would deem them healthy competition to the massive
Aquis resort, which is slated to have as many as 750 gambling tables
and 1,500 machines and Reef Casino, which has 38 gambling tables and
over 500 machines.
A
separate $7 billion bid by ASF Consortium, the Broadwater Marine
project, is the only other applicant to come this far in Queensland’s
approval process, but it’s not viewed as a direct competitor to
Aquis because, well, Cairns is a long ways away from Brisbane (almost
three hours by plane and 20 hours by car). So without the Reef Casino
holding court as a direct competitor to Aquis in Cairns, Fung’s
massive project would effectively have a monopoly in the northern
part of Queensland.
ACCC
chairman Rod Sims told the Wall Street Journal that an investigation
on how Aquis plans to use the Reef Casino will continue. For its
part, Aquis has said that it would respond to the concerns raised by
the ACCC and is confident that the sale will ultimately be allowed.
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