Christmas Island could re-open casino
Christmas Island could once again have a casino if plans for a new 80-bed diving resort being planned is accepted by the islands administration.
The sovereign state of Australia with a majority ethnic group of Chinese which has been used as a detention centre for decades but now is winding down with less than 100 asylum seekers on the island could boost tourism should the administration allow the building of the resort and casino.
A report by the joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories has recommended the casino be reopened after it was closed in 1998. The closure came after the Indonesian president Suharto refused to give flight permits to the island from any Indonesian airport.
It is hoped that building the resort and casino would create around 400 permanent jobs and when the casino closed in 1998 its turnover was $5.8 billion annually with much of the tourists and gamblers coming from Indonesia.
“Work to facilitate the reopening of the casino on Christmas Island is long overdue and should commence immediately. What is required is the political will to make this happen,” the committee concluded in its report.
The administrator of the island and former Liberal politician, Barry Haase, said the Minister for Infrastructure, Jamie Briggs, had been given the “quiet” approval from Prime Minister Tony Abbott to go forth with government consultations on the casino plan.
“It will be a well-researched and a careful approach to any reissue of licence,” Mr Haase said. “It will be a tightly controlled facility.”
former administrator of the island, Jon Stanhope said.”Tourism really is the only hope for a replacement industry of any sort to fill the long overdue downturn that was always going to be experienced when the boats stopped or immigration activity decreased.”
Mr Stanhope said a dive resort would be warmly welcomed by divers around the world.
“It’s regarded by those in diving fraternity as one of the ten best diving destinations in the world.”
