CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The nightmare that has become the construction of Brisbane’s new casino just got much, much messier.
Aside from major subcontractors going broke midway through the development, and the project dragging out years longer than expected, it seems that the Queens Wharf Casino will now also have to contend with the Queensland Government being massive pussies.
With scaffolders and steelfixers owed millions, this hellish project looks like it will all be for nothing, after new laws passed this week that will greatly disrupt the commercial casino model.
The new changes to gambling legislation follow recommendations from an independent 2022 review into the Star Entertainment Group, which found “major failings” in its Queensland operations.
Then-attorney-general Shannon Fentiman told Star to “get its house in order” or “fuck off out of Queensland for good” – before putting the slipper in with $100 million in fines.
And the hits keep coming this week, with the sweeping gambling reforms that will now include mandatory identity verification, 1000 cash limits and a compulsory code of conduct for “safer gambling”.
On top of this, mandatory carded play will require patrons to swipe or tap a card before they can gamble, even if playing with cash.
Players will need to verify their identity and age before being granted a card, and card data can be relayed interstate to identify problem gamblers between different venues.
These new laws have been described as “the fucking pits” by gambling and gaming lobbyists, who are now going to have to do something drastic to attract non-problem gamblers.
One idea that has been suggested is a return to the Vegas-style entertainment residencies, with both Sydney boy band Human Nature and Brisbane’s pop duo The Veronicas earmarked for an Elvis style take over of Queens Wharf when the joint is finally fucking finished.
Speaking to The Betoota Advocate this week, a representative from Star says the Queensland Government are being ‘soft cocks’ and that ‘it’s clear as day Queensland Premier Steven Miles is a mug punter, because these are the kinds of laws that only someone who’d done their arse would come up with”
