One of Australia’s leading gambling researchers says the business case for Brisbane’s $3.6bn Queen’s Wharf development could possibly collapse if Star Entertainment were to be stripped of its casino licence.
The state’s attorney general, Shannon Fentiman, has ordered a probe into the casino operator’s suitability to hold a licence in Queensland after a New South Wales inquiry heard allegations Star had potentially acted criminally.
“There will also be an independent expert review into the suitability of The Star to keep its casino licence,” Fentiman said in a statement on Tuesday.
This was on the back of a New South Wales gaming regulator’s inquiry that is examining claims the ASX-listed company enabled suspected money laundering, organised crime, fraud and foreign interference at Star Sydney.
The partially built Queen’s Wharf development began in 2015 and sits on prime real estate on the north bank of the Brisbane River, covering nearly 10% of the city’s CBD.
A joint venture led by Star and Hong Kong-based property developers Far East Consortium and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, Queen’s Wharf is billed as a “tourism precinct” that will include luxury properties, shops and a footbridge from South Bank.
Dr Charles Livingstone, a gambling researcher and associate professor at Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said a casino was an important part of the development.
“Without the casino, I don’t think the whole thing really stacks up,” he said.
News of the inquiry was first reported in the Australian, which said the proposed Brisbane casino’s business case was predicated on “junkets” bringing rich Chinese gamblers.
Livingstone, the author of scores of academic papers and government reports on gambling regulation and impact, said if the NSW regulator found Star to be unfit to hold a casino licence “it has to be found unsuitable in Brisbane and the Gold Coast”.
But even under that scenario, he said it was unlikely Star would be stripped of its licence.
Instead it may be given a conditional licence or have its senior management turned over, as was the case with Crown casinos in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
In a statement, Star said it was continuing to cooperate with relevant regulatory authorities, including the Queensland Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation and the review being conducted by Adam Bell SC in relation to The Star Sydney.
“The Star will fully cooperate with any review,” the company said.
Even with the casino, Livingstone said Queen’s Wharf could struggle to stay afloat, and would probably rely more heavily on drawing local gamblers to feed its poker machines than high rollers from abroad.
“If it relies heavily on casino revenue, then it’s taken a huge gamble,” he said.
Livingstone said he didn’t see a future in Australia’s casino market as a destination for international travellers.
“Every city in the world has got one now, they are each competing against each other, and there are two of the world’s biggest casinos just to the north in Singapore,” he said.
Fentiman said the government took the allegations of money laundering and integrity issues very seriously.
“Investigations by the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation into The Star are ongoing, and they are continuing to work with the Queensland Police and Austrac,” Fentiman said.
She said the terms of reference for “an independent expert review into the suitability of The Star to keep its casino licence” would be released, after consideration by cabinet.
Brisbane Greens councillor Jonathan Sri, who has been one of the development’s most vocal opponents, said he feared the announcement was a “PR exercise” that wouldn’t “lead to any meaningful action”.
“This has been a massive privatisation of public space and public land, a heritage precinct that was sold off in exchange for a footbridge we didn’t need,” he said.
