Echo Entertainment is asking for an extension of its Sydney casino monopoly, a request which if granted could deal a mortal blow to Crown’s plans to enter Australia’s largest city with a competing resort.
“Both of these proposals are going to be considered under the same process because both can’t proceed,” New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell told reporters on Tuesday.
Echo’s The Star casino in Pyrmont on Darling Harbour has six years left on its exclusive license. Crown, which operates casinos in Melbourne and Perth, wants to build a A$1 billion VIP casino with supporting facilities on the harbor at the Barangaroo development complex.
The premier forwarded Echo’s request to an independent panel currently assessing the Crown proposal in a process that opposition lawmakers say is lacking transparency and fundamentally flawed because it was never opened to competing bids.
“The O’Farrell government has dropped the ball when it comes to due process, and honesty, openness,” said Labor Party Leader John Robertson.
Greens MP John Kaye called the panel’s review a “farce”.
“The behind-closed-doors process has raised serious questions of the exercise of influence and the potential loss of revenue,” he said.
The panel’s reports on both proposals are expected to be submitted to the government by the end of May.
