Macquarie Network ::: 2GB | 2CH | LIVENEWS | STREET CORNER | RUGBYLEAGUELIVE | WHAT CAREER | AMAZING AUSTRALIANS :::
Tuesday, 02 December 2008

$1 a year: PBL's bargain basement deal for Crown Casino

12/09/2008 8:25:00 AM.  | AAP
The Packer-controlled Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) pays rent of just $1 a year for its Crown casino complex in Melbourne.

A Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation report, tabled in parliament on Thursday, reveals Crown's owners will pay $1 a year for its Southbank site for the first 40 years of its 99 year lease and market value for the remaining years, Fairfax newspapers reported on Friday.

Crown entered the lease in 1993.

The casino made $370.1 million in profit last year, from $2.03 billion in revenue.

Crown spokesman Gary O'Neill told Fairfax the casino site was a "derelict piece of land, which had been unused for a long period and couldn't be built on until it was cleaned up".

The casino had paid a licence fee of $200 million, spent almost $2 billion to develop the giant casino complex and had paid the government almost $2.7 billion in taxes and charges since 1993.

The report called on Crown to do better at detecting people who had stolen money to gamble and noted a sharp rise in the number of underage gamblers trying to enter the complex - from 2,060 a month in 2003 to 6,859 a month this year.

In the five years to June 20 this year, only 148 minors were caught inside the gaming area, the report said.

The report found Crown "continues to be at the forefront of Australian casinos, meets the requirements of an international world-class casino complex and has a satisfactory degree of operational compliance".

It noted 207 breaches of table gaming rules and 1,668 breaches of gaming machine rules and 25 disciplinary actions against the casino.

YOUR SAY




 


 

500 characters maximum. 500 characters left.


 

* Required field

 
Register to receive daily news and sports details

YOUR SAY

It's a way of life for them, but there are concerns that the sea levels will eventually take over.... Cassandra Cole, Sydney on Severe flooding leaves Venice under water

Hmmm, so educated but still calls the ALP, the Labour Party. Byebye, or should i say Salaam?... jack knowsSh*t, Upures on Rudd admits: We will fall into deficit

Yes, Fair Minded, and for its gondoliers not bloody submarines !... Paul Neri (JWH Party), Australia on Severe flooding leaves Venice under water

So what happened to the Howard Gov.s $10 Billion rescue plan. Did Rudd park that somewhere or has it been dumped simply because Howard thought... Chanticlere ., Wollongong on Federal takeover of Murray system deadlocked

I thought you wrote that yourself Paul - so what is the name of this song?... Cassandra Cole, Sydney on Atheists take on the fundos