Echo Entertainment Competes with Crown for Brisbane’s Second Casino

Queensland starts competition between gambling firms for casino license, making Echo and Crown among the favorites for the permit.

Echo Entertainment and a Hong Kong investment firm have joined forces to form a strong partnership to beat James Packer’s Crown out of Brisbane’s second casino license offering.

Echo, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTF) and Far East Consortium have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will see them develop a new consortium.

Australian gambling laws have strict policies on the number of licenses that they issue, however they realized that many benefits arise with more casinos. Initially, the government of Queensland had four potential candidates for the Queens’s Wharf Brisbane resort and casino, while not it has three. The other two suitors are Crown resorts and China’s Greenland.

Consortium may prove to be a winning formula

Echo’s chief exec, Matt Bekier, believes that establishing a consortium with Australian gaming experience and partners’ knowledge of the hospitality is a winning combination.

“Echo is delighted to work in partnership with two significant Asian based partners and the government to develop and submit a compelling proposal for the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane site, which will deliver major investment in tourism infrastructure including a world class integrated resort to Brisbane.”

Gambling news highlights how the fact that Echo forms part of a consortium, state officials may favor them instead of Crown Resorts to deliver the project to life. The consortium has more power within its ranks due to their vast experience and general know-how about the market. The license winners will be announced in the beginning of the next year.