Star Entertainment Group operates the only casino resort on Australia’s Gold Coast, The Star Gold Coast. Queensland became interested in learning if there was interest in a second casino resort just a few months ago. Several casino operators, including Hard Rock International and Caesars Entertainment, had stepped forward indicating that they would consider a project. However, it appears that the company, which just announced a merger with Eldorado, pulled back after the initial allure of the endeavor wore off.
According to a report by The Gold Coast Bulletin (GCB), Caesars reached its decision several weeks ago, well ahead of the Eldorado merger announcement. It hasn’t given a reason why it was no longer interested, but, with everything going on, the move isn’t too surprising. GCB only quoted a Caesars spokesman as saying, “Several weeks ago, Caesars Entertainment decided that it would not pursue a casino license in Queensland.”
While Caesars didn’t make a public announcement about its decision, it apparently communicated it to the Queensland Tourism Department. The entity’s director-general, Damien Walker, said that the decision was “a result of internal company changes and not the attractiveness of the Gold Coast market as an investment opportunity.”
There is still some interest by casino operators in a second venue on the Gold Coast, but everyone wants to see how growth plans for the area develop first. There has not been much information published regarding where the second resort would be located and there are concerns regarding whether or not the area could support another venue, which are also causing trepidation among operators.
The Queensland Tourism Department has launched a broad-reaching plan to turn the Gold Coast into a tourism hub and some believe that there may not be enough room for another gambling house. Additionally, there are concerns that allowing another resort would force Star Entertainment to call off plans for its billion-dollar upgrade to The Star Gold Coast, which is expected to include four new hotel towers in addition to the Star Residences and Dorsett Hotel, which are already under construction.
Star Entertainment believes that there are already enough slot machine licenses in the region and that another operator in the area would cause oversaturation. Of course, the reality is that the company is afraid of losing its local monopoly.
