Bloomberg – Echo Entertainment Group Ltd. (EGP), facing a challenge to its exclusive Sydney casino license from billionaire James Packer’s Crown Ltd., wants a bigger site in Queensland’s state capital to target Asian gamblers.
Echo’s existing casinos in the state, in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Townsville, are too small to attract overseas tourists, Chief Executive Officer John Redmond said in a phone interview yesterday. Echo is in talks with Queensland’s government about the Brisbane relocation, and the plan is a key priority for the year to June, it said in a presentation.
Both Packer and Redmond are banking on Australia emulating the performance of Singapore, where large resorts opened by Genting Singapore Plc (GENS) and Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) had $5.2 billion in sales last year. Echo wants to expand its Queensland sites as Packer develops plans for a A$1.3 billion ($1.2 billion) Sydney casino tower to attract high-rolling gamblers who wagered A$23.8 billion at Echo’s gaming tables last year.
“We don’t have a compelling enough offering to attract people” to Echo’s sites in the Gold Coast and Brisbane, where its hotel is housed inside the sandstone former state Treasury building, Redmond said. “You need to build or develop something at a scale that allows you to compete with the rest of the world.”
