SkyCity and the City of Auckland have decided to delay the finalization of their convention centre deal until July 5th. Negotiations were supposed to be over by the end of June, but the two parties decided to take some more time ironing out the details. The deal will provide SkyCity with hundreds of new games in return for the casino operator building the city’s new convention centre.
The cost of land and construct is $402 million, and the casino will receive 250 new pokies and 40 new table games. It took months for the two parties to agree on these terms, and they just need a few more days to ensure that they can now move forward with the plan. "We have made good progress on an agreement that runs to a few hundred pages,” says Steven Joyce, the Economic Development Minister.
“It makes sense to take a few more days to ensure all details are sorted”. After the two parties have finalized the deal, it will be in the hands of local lawmakers. The plan must be ratified by legislation and reviewed by a select committee on the issue. SkyCity hopes that construction can start in 2014, and will be finished by 2017. There is still quite a long way to go before the deal is set in stone, however, which may be a beneficial for critics.
The deal has attracted its fair share of negative press, and many Aucklanders are opposed to introducing new pokies into the community. Since there are still plenty of legislative steps involved, there is the chance for responsible gambling advocates to have their say. The Auditor General even criticised the deal, stating that the bidding process was not entirely fair.
As such, several politicians came forward to demand that the deal be disbanded, but little came from this campaign. Now that the deal is passing through legislation, there is the opportunity for politicians to voice their concerns yet again.
About the Author
