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Premier Morris Iemma Talks With Stanley Ho Regarding Casino Issue in New South Wales

On August 20th, 2007, the possibility of a second casino facility in New South Wales has come up again after it was announced that Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho met with the Premier before the election about constructing one.

Stanley Ho, whose son Lawrence Ho is the main casino partner of James Packer in Macau, had a private meeting with Morris Iemma, according to the office of the Premier.

There are talks that the possibility of a casino at Tweet Heads is being used by the government to leverage its talks with Tabcorp, the proprietor of Star City Casino, which wants to extend their sole license to operate New South Wales' lone casino.

Voting returns in February showed that Stanley Ho, who is listed on Forbes Magazine as the 104th richest person in the world and who monopolized gambling in Macau until 1999 was a big cash donor to the Labor party last election.

Although Ho paid $48,000 for a lunch with Iemma, the office of the Premier said that Ho did not show up. A spokesperson for Iemma said that he attended the speaker's luncheon on June 2006 where Ho was also a guest. The spokesperson said that the casino license issue was casually discussed by Ho but there is no formal agreement yet on the matter.

Morris Iemma and New South Wales Treasurer Michael Costa were also reported to have met with the officials of Star City at a dinner before the election and gave no assurances that the license of Star City will be extended. The Tabcorp casino license, which the company bought from the government in 1995 for $376 million dollars, will expire this year.

Michael Foggo, the head of the NSW Office of Liquor, Gambling and Racing and a senior treasury department official are reportedly talking about the extension of the gambling license of Star City. NSW government is also said to be talking about the increase in the 24.5 gambling license of Star City.

If the talks failed to reach an agreement, Michael Costa is expected to solve the issue in the event that no agreement is reached between the two parties.

If the government is not happy with the offer of Star City, the government could choose not to extend it, leaving the chance for other gaming organizations to bid for the license.

The critics' gambling and racing spokesperson George Souris commented that any casino plans will need to be discussed publicly. Souris is concerned about the donors of the Labor party being directly in talks with the premier.

On December 2006, Mr. Iemma's office announced that there are no plans to build a second casino in the area. The Labor party lost the majority seat of Tweed in the election.

On June 2007, Iemma refused to dismiss the possibility of a second casino in the area. The offices of the Premier, the state Treasury and the Minister for Gaming said that will not comment on the issue for the time being.

 

Tuesday, September 18 , 2007
Brian Letendre