‘Expansion’ seems to be the name of the game in Australia’s gambling market. Echo Entertainment has proposed an expansion of the Star to make the property into casino resort while Crown Casinos wants to build bigger casinos targeted at high rollers. Now, Tatts Group is getting involved, making its own plans to expand the Sphinx Casino in Geelong – and hopes to fund the project by installing new pokies.

Competition in Australia’s gambling market is getting quite steep. The top gaming providers in the country are competing for the same business, and it will be the operator with the best facilities that emerges victorious. Tatts would like to get in on the action by offering potential visitors new and improved suites.

The plan is to build 20 new deluxe suites for tourists. In order to fund this expansion, the casino operator wants to install four new pokie games on its casino floor. This would bring the number of pokies in the venue up to 67, and provide the operator with enough extra revenue to build its new hotel rooms.

"The revenue obtained by the additional gaming machines would assist in servicing debt that would need to be incurred as a result of this development," says George Ramia of Dun-Ra Investments. While four poker machines does not seem like a big deal, now is not the opportune time to ask for a gambling expansion.

The federal government has recently passed the pokie reform legislation, which means that gaming operators should be cutting back rather than expanding. Across Australia, pokies clubs and casinos will have to install voluntary pre-commitment software and limit the amount of money that players can withdraw from on-site ATMs. As such, local gaming regulators are unlikely to be thrilled with a request to install new pokies.

The developer defends the expansion by stating that there is no enough accommodation in Geelong for local tourists. They state that there is a great need for new and improved hotel rooms. While this may be the case, however, it is likely that Tatts Group will have to fund some other way to raise the funds necessary to fund the expansion.

About the Author

George Anderson
Author George, has over 25+ years’ experience in the Pokies and Casinos industry throughout Australia and New Zealand. Loves to research new Pokies games on the block and follows announcements from top industry providers about their upcoming releases. As soon as a new interesting pokie game appears on his radar, George is there to check it out and give you the scoop before anyone else and tell you about all casino sites where can play the latest game. Before this gig, George worked as Pokie game tester, making him an ideal candidate for this genre of work. He is also an animal lover and a proud owner of three dogs.