G3Newswire ASIA & OCEANIA GAMING NEWS
WWW.G3NEWSWIRE.COM AQUIS COMPLETE CANBERRA DEAL
Aquis Casino Acquisitions, the company bidding to build a A$4.2bn casino project in Cairns , is to complete in Canberra Australia - Casino Operations
PHILIPPINES – NO NEW LICENCES TILL MID-2016 New casino players seeking to enter the country will have to wait longer as regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) said it was unlikely to award new gaming licenses until President Aquino steps down in mid-2016.
Pagcor chair Cristino Naguiat Jr. said the direction was due to the fact that there were barely two years left in the Aquino administration, apart from the need for existing players to develop their business in a still-untested market.
The move is bad news for new players seeking to set up shop, like Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corp., and a boon to existing license holders like the four major operators in the Entertainment City casino complex along Manila Bay. The four licenses, three of which went to Filipino tycoons and one to Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada, were awarded under the previous administration. No new licenses have been granted under President Aquino.
Mr. Naguiat noted that Pagcor was taking a long-term view in developing Entertainment City, which is being styled as a Philippine gaming hub that could compete with regional rivals like Macau and Singapore. “We have to look at the big picture and definitely this is a long-term strategy,” he said.
The 120-hectare Entertainment City currently has only one casino operating, the $1.2-billion Solaire Resort & Casino, owned by ports magnate Enrique Razon Jr., which opened in 2013. This will be followed by the City of Dreams Manila, a venture between Filipino retail and banking taipan Henry Sy Sr. and Macau’s Melco Crown Entertainment, led by Lawrence Ho and James Packer. Okada’s group said its $2bn Manila Bay Resorts would open by the end of 2015 while Bayshore City Resorts World, a venture between Filipino bil- lionaire Andrew Tan and Malaysia’s Genting Group, plans to open its doors in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Recently, Caesars Entertainment approached President Aquino to possibly build a casino in a property near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, the country’s main gateway and its busiest airport.
AUSTRALIA - CROWN WINS MAJOR TAX CONCESSION According to an announcement by Racing and Gaming Minister Terry Waldron, the state government is giving a tax break to Crown Perth so casino mogul Packer can lure inter- national high rollers away from Singapore’s new gambling resorts and back to West Australia. The new arrangement, according to Waldron, cuts the tax paid on the profits the casino makes from so-called whales flown in from abroad from the current 11 percent to 8 per- cent. In return, Crown Perth Casino will guarantee it will pay at least $45.25 million to the state government over the next five years – well above the $37.4 million it paid over the past five years.
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Aquis Casino Acquisitions, the company behind the bid to build a spectacular A$4.2bn casino and resort project in Cairns, is likely to complete its takeover of the Canberra Casino by Christmas having secured a $3m discount on the sale price.
Led by Chinese tycoon Tony Fung’s, the company has agreed to buy the Casino Canberra, located on the eastern side of the Australian capital’s Central Business District in Glebe Park, from Casinos Austria for $6m.
initially the deal was dependent on the Aquis Group receiving gaming regulatory approvals from the ACT government and agree the purchase of Reef Casino Trust. Aquis has though only secured 82.8 per cent of shares of the Cairns casino instead of the 90 per cent needed.
ACT Gambling and Racing Commission Chief Executive Greg Jones said: “The previous deal would see Aquis takeover the Reef Casino and hotel complex, and as part of that they would effectively own Casino Canberra, as they are
owned by the same organisation, Casinos Austria. Aquis and Casinos Austria have now agreed to separate the sale of the properties, so the sale of the Canberra property can go ahead.”
Aquis said:“Aquis has tremendous confidence in the future of Casino Canberra and has agreed with Casinos Austria that the acquisition of the facility is no longer conditional on the RCT takeover offer. Through the due diligence process for the broader transaction we have gained a strong understand- ing of the Canberra facility and its potential.
“As a committed, active owner for the long term we will be looking at various options for improve- ments and upgrades and look forward to working with local stakeholders to build a facility every- one in the ACT can be proud of,” said Aquis.
The bigger resort proposal would be located 13km north of Cairns and would be called Aquis Resort. It would market itself to Chinese tourists and has pitched itself as being bigger than James Packer’s Crown casino in Melbourne. It wants to operate 750 tables and 1,500 slots at a resort that, if approved, would include nine hotels with 3,750 rooms, one of the world’s largest aquariums, a 25,000-seat sports stadium, 1,200 apartments and 135 villas, high-end retail shopping, theatres, a 13- hectare reef lagoon, 18-hole golf course, a conven- tion and exhibition.
Plans presented for Sea Pearl Hotel off the Gold Coast
AUSTRALIA Marie Stephens Properties has presented plans for a A$250m casino hotel to be shaped like a giant pearl and designed to float off the Gold Coast in Australia.
Known as the Sea Pearl Hotel, it is the creation of Professor Jianping Zheng, a man who has designed over 200 theme parks and hotels in China. Sea Pearl will feature 300 hotel rooms, a casino and an underwater restaurant.
Mr Zheng wants the development to become one of Australia’s iconic landmarks.
A spokesperson said the aim was for the futuristic designs to ‘make a statement as big as the Opera House did for Sydney.’
He hopes that new gaming laws and a raft of new licences in Queensland will allow the devel- opment to be built at Gold Coast Integrated Resort and Cruise Ship Terminal in southeastern Queensland.
The professor of Zhejiang University presented his plans at the Australia China Chamber of CEO’s G20 lead up event.
It will also feature shopping malls, a sky viewing deck, night light entertainment, a swimming pool, restaurants and an exhibition cen- tre. A spokesperson for Marie Stephens Properties said talks concerning the project’s potential with Queensland Premier Campbell Newman were greeted with a positive response.
Australia Former prime minister Paul Keating has turned down a role on a new design advisory panel which will provide advice about the latest changes to Barangaroo, including James Packer's proposed casino, hotel and residential tower. Mr Keating confirmed he had had discussions with the Planning Minister about the new panel, but said he had achieved the design objectives he wanted to see at Barangaroo. Mr Keating said it was a mistake for the former Premier Barry O'Farrell to scrap the hotel which was to have been built on a pier in Darling Harbour, which had necessitated the granting of new site for the hotel/casino.
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