Billionaire Tony Fung has been interested in buying the Cairns Casino for over a year. Now, the Australian Competitor and Consumer Commission has finally given him the go ahead, after previously expressing some doubts about his plan. Originally, the ACCC was concerned that Mr Fung’s acquisition of the casino would compromise healthy competition in the local gambling market.
The was the possibility that the venue would cannibalize all other local businesses in the industry, but a recent review has deemed that this will not be the case. According to Jill Walker, Commissioner of the ACCC, there will not be very much crossover between the Cairns Casino and the Aquis Casino Resort.
She stated that Aquis is more focused on attracting VIP players and wealthy tourists from overseas, whereas the Cairns Casino is a more modest venue that aims to appeal to local Australian players. “The resort, if developed, would be of a scale that is unprecedented in Australia,” she said. “The total expenditure required to develop the first stage alone would be over $5 billion.”
Aquis Casino will cost over $8 billion to build, and it will include a hotel, golf course, convention centre, artificial lake, and plenty of other exciting tourist attractions. The hotel will have 7500 luxury rooms, and the entire resort aims to attract wealthy visitors.
The target audience is Chinese tourists, which are known to be the most generous when it comes to gambling. According to Tourism Australia, over 45 000 Chinese residents visited Australia in June alone. So, there is certainly a demand for more tourism opportunities for Asian visitors. It is a very lucrative market, and Mr Fung aims to meet the need of Chinese players and other wealthy tourists from around the world.
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