Tony Fung’s Aquis Entertainment is starting the year strong.
The Australian casino operator announced that the gross gaming revenue for its Casino Canberra came in strong at $2,045,000 for the month of January, which is 120 percent higher than the previous month.
The GGR was also 80.7 percent higher compared to last year’s $1,131,000, despite some volatility, Aquis Entertainment told CalvinAyre.com in an email.
The casino also saw a spike in its gaming play activity: 28.2 percent increase from December 2015, and an increase of 92.3 percent compared to January last year.
A $13.6 million refurbishment of the Casino Canberra, which Aquis Entertainment acquired back in August, is expected to be completed by June 2016. The refurbishment will include a new restaurant, private VIP facilities, security upgrades, as well as replacement of all furniture and gaming equipment.
Aquis said it is also waiting for the ACT Government to approve its $330 million development plans, which will include an extension to the National Convention Centre, VIP and mass gaming facilities, a six-star villa accommodation, a five-star hotel, retail food and beverage and a shopping mall.
Crown Resorts told to shrink podium, widen public space at Barangaroo casino
Meanwhile, James Packer and the rest of his crew have been ordered to scale down the size of the podium for its proposed Barangaroo casino.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Department of Planning NSW told Crown Resorts and developer Lend Lease to “reduce the size of the podium for its proposed casino tower and move the podium back from the waterfront, to address concerns the lower floors of the casino will dominate the public space and constrict the harbor walkway.”
The casino operator has been busy with its government lobbying efforts as it works through the approval process for its $2 billion casino project. Crown got the government’s nod to run a VIP-only casino, without poker machines, at Barangaroo starting November 2019, but in July 2015, the casino operator sought for another approval to build its 270-meter casino, hotel and apartment tower at Barangaroo South.
Crown’s application status, however, is still in limbo because the planning department wants to casino operator to address concerns “in relation to traffic management, heritage impacts and encroachment on public land.”
Crown already reduced the size of its casino project to a smaller 275-meter high building complete with a luxury hotel, multi-million dollar residential apartments, retail space and a gaming floor, all of which will cover as much as 77,500 square meters. The VIP casino will cover about 6,805 square meters of the total floor space, less than half the space granted under its restricted gaming license.
