Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2012 4 A s hostile takeovers go, it’s got it all: intrigue, duplicity, skullduggery, conflicts of loyalty and ambition, allegations of sexual misconduct and, of course, lots and lots of money. Heading the cast is James Packer, 44-year-old heir to an empire founded on Australian newspapers, television networks and casinos, most of it consolidated by his father, Kerry Packer, a brash, outsized character of outsized ambition and appetites who died in 2005 the country’s richest man. The younger Packer, somewhat less rich— ranked No. 4 or No. 6 these days, worth somewhere between A$4.5 billion and $5.2 billion, depending on what you read—has cast a covetous eye on The Star in Sydney, with its 1,500 electronic gaming machines, 210 table games, 651 five-star hotel rooms, 3,000-seat entertainment venue, an enviable location on Darling Harbour and New South Wales’ only casino license, good through 2020. Like rich men everywhere, Kerry Packer’s avocation was separating other rich men from their money, and he was both a gambler of titanic proportions, winning or blowing millions in a night at the tables in Las Vegas or London, and a substantial owner of gambling houses. He bequeathed to his son the largest Hostile takeover target—The Star, Sydney The Star War A drama the likes of which this industry rarely sees is unfolding Down Under— a battle for control of the only casino in Australia’s largest city, and with it an airtight monopoly of Australia’s precious trade in high-rolling Asian gamblers, a business worth upwards of A$25 billion in annual turnover Burswood in sunny Perth