Press Release from Aquis Aware Coalition of Concerned Citizens

Academic researchers Francis Markham and Martin Young have launched a withering critique of the Aquis development and its likely impact on the social fabric of our region.
https://theconversation.com/this-time-is-different-the-local-costs-of-cairns-new-casino-30253    
Aquis Aware Coaltion of Concerned Citizens spokesperson Denis Walls said, “it appears clear that Aquis will rely on locals playing pokies much more than high roller Chinese at gaming tables if it is to be anywhere near sustainable as a company. Figures in Macau show that Chinese gamblers rarely use pokies and yet 1500 are to be put in for the proposed development as against 750 gaming tables”       Markham and Young argue that this is likely to extract a staggering amount of economic resources out of the community. The suggest that, on average, each adult resident in Cairns will spend an extra $240 per year on pokies or, as a city, more than $56 million per year by 2021.     “And yet according to those in favour of the proposal,” said Mr Walls the casino is aimed at the Chinese market. The developers claim that it will attract only “the Chinese mass-market middle class, but also the big-spending, high-value, ever-expanding Chinese upper class.”   Markham and Young state that those with long memories or a familiarity with the history of casino development in Australia have heard this story before. From Hobart to Darwin, casinos have been justified with hopes of attracting lucrative international tourists and gamblers, particularly from Asia.     Yet such hopes have rarely been realised. Australian casinos sooner or later become dependent on the “local” pokies market – except for the barely profitable Canberra casino from which pokies have been banned. They wonder whether the profits from the casino, going offshore to the Hong Kong-based developers, will be worth the inevitable local costs.     “This reinforces the position held by Senator Nick Xenophon and Rev Tim Costello that projects like Aquis are likely to be a blight on our community if it goes ahead,” said Mr Walls.