The $A475 million makeover plan for Star City Casino announced in Tabcorp’s 2008 Annual Report in September has received a setback from Sydney Council. The 3-year development was to have repositioned the casino to face the harbour, but the submitted design has been described as ‘not contributing to the overall civic feel of the harbour edge’. The council has taken a dislike to the ‘wall of glass’ that would have been built as part of the redevelopment.

The project to expand and refurbish the complex, repositioning it to overlook both the harbour and city, was expected to start in early 2009 and be completed in 2011. The casino must now work with a design review panel set up by the Sydney Council planning department and amend the drawings for the harbourside section. However, the Council has raised an additional issue.

The new outdoor gaming area, which needs permission from the New South Wales Planning Minister, is thought likely to exacerbate problem gambling by promoting longer periods of uninterrupted gambling. In August Tabcorp posted its first loss in fourteen years, naming state smoking bans as having a detrimental affect on revenue. The Star City expansion investment was agreed following exclusivity and product concessions for the casino with the New South Wales State Government. (E-11.17.08)

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