Te Casino (Electronic Gaming) Act of 2017 was introduced in May last year and permitted the operation of machines in the casino including fully automated table games. Previously slots were not allowed but the casino now has permission to operate up to 60 fully automated table games and 200 poker machines.
number of machines from 5,022 to 4,283 by the end of 2018.
Tere are now 31 licensees in ACT with 50 authorisation certificates to operate machines of which 45 are for Clubs (Class C) and five are for Hotels and Taverns (Class B).
Meanwhile in November last year the Gaming Legislation Amendment Bill was introduced which introduced the Pathway to 4,000 gaming machines – a plan to reduce the number of EGMs further to 4,000 by the year 2020. Tis would be achieved by a two step approach – voluntary and compulsory surrender of authorisations. Voluntary surrender notices had to be submitted by January 2019 whilst compulsory surrender took place in April 2019 and again in April 2020.
l Casinos – there is one casino in ACT which is
Casino Canberra located in Glebe Park in the city’s Central Business District (CBD). Te casino was recently sold to Blue Whale Entertainment for $32m giving ownership to Blue Whale owner Michael Gu, who is Chief Executive of iProsperity investment group and a shareholder in SB&G Group (owner of IHG and Crowne Plaza hotels).
Tere is a Crowne Plaza adjacent to the Canberra casino whilst in July last year SB&G announced plans to build a Holiday Inn Express next to the Crowne Plaza.
Te casino was owned by Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung of Aquis who bought the casino from Casinos Austria for $6.5m in 2014.
It seems Aquis has been frustrated with its inability to progress with its $307m redevelopment project for Canberra’s CDB area
where the casino is located. Te integrated entertainment precinct was launched to reinvigorate the city South area with a leisure and nightlife precinct which included the refurbishment of the casino plus new five star hotel, luxury villas, restaurants, spa, shopping mall and nightclub and bars.
Te government quashed the plans for this project late last year although they did agree to allow the casino to have 200 poker machines (although they requested 500 machines) which previously was not permitted, but also imposed tough new bit limits and taxes on machines.
Te Casino (Electronic Gaming) Act of 2017 was introduced in May last year and permitted the operation of gaming machines in the casino including fully automated table games. Previously slots were not allowed but the casino now has permission to operate up to 60 fully automated table games and 200 poker machines.
Casino operating revenue for year ending 2017 amounted to $26.1m although the casino reported a loss of $13.8m following on from a loss in 2016 of $7.7m.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P165
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