The Daily Mail – The gambling industry has emerged from an era of failed reforms with campaigners on the payroll, politicians in its pocket, and four new casinos in the offing.
Campbell Newman’s recent announcement to offer up to three new casino licences in Queensland signals that Australia’s second great gambling boom has begun.
The Queensland premier’s decision to offer the new licences, to kick-start what he called a “faded and jaded” state tourism industry, brings the total number of new casinos announced in Australia in 2013 to four – including James Packer’s bid for a second Sydney casino which was given the green light in July.
A $350 million revamp of Adelaide Casino was also okayed last month. Together, these developments mark a resumed embrace between Australian governments and the casino-building business – some 17 years since the last licence was granted, to the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns.
Chairman of the Australian Churches’ Gambling Taskforce, Reverend Tim Costello, says the industry is enjoying the spoils of its victorious campaign, waged during the previous government’s term, against the muscular restrictions on poker machines championed by independent MP Andrew Wilkie.
