The owners of the Lasseters Hotel Casino in Alice Springs, Australia have had their purchase of Queenstown’s Wharf Casino approved by New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs. The company has agreed to pay NZ$1 million and pay off the casino’s NZ$3 million debt amounting to a total price of US$2.7 million. Malaysian-owned Lasseters’ Australian operation has 18 table games and 250 slot machines and is well known for its Lasseters online gaming website.

In 1999 Lasseters Casino proclaimed itself as the world’s first established and fully licensed physical casino to offer cash gaming on the Internet in a fully regulated environment. At that time the online gaming market was estimated to be worth $500 million. Following the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, passed in the United States, Lasseters Corporation has had to end its online operations to US citizens with the resulting loss of around 70% of business.

The company believes that the global online gaming market previously worth US$10 billion is now worth around US$3 billion, approximately what it was worth in 2001. It also believes that most of the US online gamblers will move to less well regulated sites, of which there are some 2,500 worldwide. Lasseters is now working with Australia’s Northern Territory regulator to overcome problems with around US$127,000 held in the purses of US-based players. Some of these player accounts hold the balance of promotional funds that can not be refunded, some accounts are awaiting ID checks.

Lasseters is intending to diversify and is considering the acquisition of other online gambling operations with its cash reserves. The company has already decided to develop a sports book from scratch as being more cost effective than acquiring a going concern. Lasseters Incorporated will now have to see if it can turn a loss-making casino into a profitable one. A rival operation, Sky City Queenstown Casino, was blamed by the previous Wharf Casino management for the lack of profitability in an area with an insufficiently buoyant casino market to support two casino licences. Wharf Casino will change hands on 31 January 2007. ,br> (E-12.15.06)

© Copyright 2006 CasinoCompendium



>>> return to archives
>>> return to frontpage