The members of the Queensland union have just announced that they would like one of the operators that have applied for acquiring a license and building a casino in Brisbane to undergo further checking procedures and be carefully monitored.
The union has suspected one of the bidders to have been related to a business that is not allowed to participate in the auction about acquiring a casino license and establishing one on the territory of New South Wales.
Two companies are currently trying to obtain a license and build a luxurious casino resort in Queens Wharf Brisbane.
The secretary of United Voice – Gary Bullock, questioned the relations between Echo Entertainment and the Chinese businessman Stanley Ho. The latter became notorious for having been banned from participation in such a bid in the past.
If Echo wins the bid, it is going to work in collaboration with Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE). However, the union thinks that CTFE might be linked to Stanley Ho and came up with the argument that the CEO of CTFE owns 10% of the shares in Ho’s casinos in Macau.
Last month, the opponent of Echo – Crown Resorts, obtained a license for building a casino in Barangaroo after providing convincing arguments that the company is not related to Dr Ho.
Gary Bullock said that he considers the probity checks to have been hastily done but the Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney completely disapproved of that statement and as a response, asked Bullock about the motivation of the union.
Mr. Bullock said that union’s top priority was making sure that both bidders live up to the high requirements. He also added that the union has never believed that they might find such a serious issue that might make things go into the wrong direction.
Tim Costello supported Bullock and added that New South Wales authorities have done their best to keep Stanley Ho away from the Barangaroo Casino affairs and Queensland has to do the same.
Echo representatives refused to comment on the issue but Jeff Seeney said that they need to carefully review Dr Ho’s presence in NSW.
In conclusion, Seeney said he is convinced that every issue that arises would be investigated and handled as soon as possible and the frequent communication with NSW authorities will help that goal to be accomplished.
It is getting more and more obvious that the union prefers Crown over Echo and Mr. Bullock had no hesitations in confirming that union members consider Crown to be the better option than Echo.
The proposals of both bidders will be revealed next week but the winner will not be publicly announced before the probity audit is completed. Communities will not be informed about the name of the company that is to be awarded a license before the middle of 2015.
