Inside Asian Gaming

IAG AUG 2019年8月 亞博匯 27 the second casino discussion was abandoned completely and looked to be dead in the water until its sudden revival in March this year. A STAR IS BORN In August 2018, Star Entertainment Group began construction of its AU$450 million Dorsett Hotel – a 53-storey tower featuring a 316-room hotel and 423 apartments on The Star Gold Coast’s 6-acre site in Broadbeach. The Dorsett follows AU$100 million already invested in upgrading the original Jupiter’s, another AU$50 million in additional restaurants and AU$450 million to develop lavish six-star hotel The Darling, which opened early last year. That’s quite an investment for a company already committing AU$3.6 billion to its flagship Queen’s Wharf Development in Brisbane and another AU$500 million in Sydney, but The Star Gold Coast is already proving a game-changer. In the six months to 31 December 2018, the revamped property recorded an 11.8% year-on-year increase in visitation, 22.6% increase in normalized revenue and 90.9% increase in VIP turnover, more than double that of Crown Perth. VIP gaming wasn’t even part of the offering at Jupiter’s but such has been the transformation that The Star Gold Coast now has legitimate claims to the best offering in Australia, including distinctly China-facing VIP gaming rooms and a supremely elegant premium gaming space called the Sovereign Room. “The reason we’ve made this investment in the Gold Coast is really because it’s a very attractive long- term market,” explains Star Entertainment Group CEO Matt Bekier. “The previous owners hadn’t spent very much money on it, but we believe in the market and we’re backing it with our investment.” – Star Entertainment Group CEO Matt Bekier 「之前的業主沒有在這上面花很多錢。但我們 對這個市場充滿信心，我們用實際投資來證 明。」 ——Star Entertainment Group首席執行官 Matt Bekier 遊客是優先考慮的對象。作為澳洲最大的遊客來源市場，每年有 約130萬名中國遊客到訪澳洲。據預測，到2026至2027年，該數字 將翻三番達到390萬，黃金海岸自然想從中分一杯羹。 然而昆士蘭政府發言人就表示，「旅遊業的持續興旺並無法 保證昆士蘭就一定能吸引到遊客前往。」 「中國遊客要求高端品牌設施及獨特的體驗。黃金海岸必須 改變，以滿足目標市場的預期，從而保護其遊客市場份額，並善加 利用這個發展機會。」 當前任自由黨政府在2012年首次提出在當地發展第二家娛 樂場時，當時的想法是通過吸引私人機構前往投資，以打造一個 金額約75億澳元大型發展項目，包括全新的遊輪碼頭及酒店，遊 艇船塢、零售、娛樂、酒店住宿、公共空間及休閒設施。中標者須通 過所有必需的環境要求、規劃及監管批准，而博彩牌照則是懸於 其面前的誘餌。 2014年，有中國背景的澳中財富集團有限公司（ASF Group） 最終入選成為首選開發商，並且獲得了首先提出合適設計方案的 權利。然而這些計劃在2015年的州選舉之後發生了變化。反對黨 封面故事