Casino Canberra (or Canberra Casino) is a
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
located in the
Central Business District of
Canberra, the capital city of
Australia. It was the first legal casino to open in the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...
, built on land excised from
Glebe Park under a 99-year lease agreement between the casino licensee and the
territory government. It is small in comparison with other casinos in Australia and does not incorporate any hotel accommodation, theatres, auditoriums or retail stores. It is the only casino in Australia not licensed to operate
poker machines. There are 39 gaming tables where
blackjack,
roulette,
baccarat
Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...
and other games are played. The casino also has a
poker lounge and sports lounge with
TAB facilities.
History
Following permission from the
Federal Government to issue a casino licence and despite strong opposition from Dr
Hector Kinloch of the
Residents Rally,
Casinos Austria International was selected by the ACT Government as the preferred operator on 31 January 1992. A subsidiary company, Casino Canberra Limited was formed for this purpose. In exchange for the licence, Casinos Austria paid $19 million up front for lease of the land and an annual $500,000 licensing fee. A temporary casino began operation on 14 November 1992 at the
National Convention Centre. The permanent casino opened on 29 July 1994. Former Prime Minister
Bob Hawke and the ACT Chief Minister
Rosemary Follett were among the guests at the large opening party hosted by Dr Leo Walner, then head of Casinos Austria. Bob Hawke was the winner of the golden roulette ball that was used for the first spin of the roulette wheel in the temporary casino.
The Aquis Group controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung acquired the casino in 2014.
Licence restrictions
Casino Canberra holds the only licence to operate gambling tables in the Australian Capital Territory. Unlike other Australian casinos, it cannot operate
poker machines. The casino has previously tried unsuccessfully to lobby the territory government to remove restrictions that prevent it from installing poker machines. These attempts have failed, in part due to concerns from Canberra's clubs, which fear loss of revenue from their own poker machines. Amendments to the Casino Control Act (2006) which would allow the casino to operate poker machines have been unsuccessfully moved in the
legislative assembly on two occasions. In March 2013, it was reported by
The Canberra Times
''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times.
History
''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...
, amid concerns about its ongoing viability, that the casino was willing to hand back land to the government that would allow the National Convention Centre to be expanded, and pay upfront fees in exchange for licensing rights for 200 machines.
In May 2016, following submission of a proposal to massively redevelop the Casino site in exchange for the right to possess 500 poker machine licences, an in-principal agreement was reached with the Chief Minister Andrew Barr. The agreement centred on the possible use of 200 poker machines but only after redevelopment had been completed and only if the poker machine licences were purchased from owners of existing machines under the poker machine cap.
References
External links
Netticasinot
{{Canberra landmarks
1994 establishments in Australia
Casinos completed in 1994
Hotels established in 1994
Buildings and structures in Canberra
Casinos in Australia
Tourist attractions in Canberra