Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING DECEMBER 2018 74 FEATURE IN FOCUS STAR GAZING Fresh from massive investments in Sydney and Brisbane, Australia’s Star Entertainment Group is planning to invest an extra AU$2 billion into a mega masterplan for The Star Gold Coast including the construction of four new hotel towers. By Ben Blaschke I N August, Inside Asian Gaming revealed how Star Entertainment Group was gradually turning the tables on old rival Crown Resorts in the battle for dominance of Australia’s gaming market. Once a distant second in the lucrative world of international VIP play, Star has taken the lead in the past 12 months with VIP turnover of AU$61.2 billion in FY18 compared to Crown’s AU$51.5 billion – a reversal heavily aided by the October 2016 arrests of 19 An artist’s impression of Star Entertainment Group’s Gold Coast mega masterplan. Crown employees in mainland China for promoting gambling. Now Star is raising the bar following the announcement in early November that it had been granted approval by the Queensland state government to proceed with a new “mega masterplan” that will see it invest a further AU$2 billion into its Queensland assets and effectively launch the Gold Coast holiday strip onto the global tourism map. The ambitious masterplan includes the construction of five