Crown is “underdog” in Brisbane casino race, Packer says

Crown Resorts is the underdog in the race for a license to redevelop the Queen’s Wharf in downtown Brisbane, Australia, into an integrated resort, the company’s chairman James Packer told The Courier-Mail.

“We are probably the underdogs in this battle because we are an unknown quantity for Queenslanders,” Packer told the newspaper, adding he was “fully committed to being in Brisbane and investing for the long term.”

Crown, which is bidding for the license as part of a consortium with China’s Greenland Group, will seek to have as many as 1500 electronic gaming machines, the newspaper said.

Both Crown and a rival consortium consisting of Australia’s Echo Entertainment and Hong Kong interests, Chow Tai Fook Holdings and Far East Consortium, submitted their detailed bids to the Queensland government this week.

The winner is expected to be announced in early 2015.

Echo, which already runs the Treasury Casino in the city, has said that if it wins the license it will relocate the pokie machines to a fit-for-purpose gaming venue and will restore the heritage-listed building to its former glory.

 

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