The brick & mortar casino industry is Australia is growing at a rapid pace as some of the premier casino brands look to establish and expand their presence down under. Melbourne and Sydney might be the two most popular destinations for casinos in Australia but Queensland has been attracting a lot of interest from gambling establishments in the last couple of years.

Hong Kong tycoon Tony Fung is currently pushing for a casino license in Queensland to construction his Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort which is estimated to cost around $8 billion and will be located in Yorkeys Knob, Cairns.

There is also a proposal by Twin Holdings to construct a $2 billion mega-casino resort on the Great Keppel Island which is located just off the central Queensland coast but the state government will once again have to review all documentation before deciding on issuing a license. There are a growing number of supporters in Queensland including the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) who are pushing for the state to grant licenses to these casinos because they believe the economy in Queensland will receive a much needed boost from the casino industry.

There is a scarcity of good jobs in Queensland and a number of locals are forced to move to a different state and look for work or choose jobs they don’t necessarily like. A number of Queensland locals recently got together and conducted a rally outside North Rockhampton High School pushing the state to speed up the casino license proposal and give permission for a casino to be constructed on the Great Keppel Island.

Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk decided to go out and meet with the locals to hear their concerns and give them an assurance that necessary action will be taken promptly. Palaszczuk assured the crowd by saying “We want that project to go ahead … because to us that means jobs. The former government said that there will be three casino licences. We don’t know at this stage if all three are going to get up. And who knows, down the track there may be an opportunity to apply for that casino licence.”

If Twin Holdings is granted a license to establish a casino on the Great Keppel Island, the project would create thousands of construction jobs and then go on to employ hundreds of casino workers. The company will fill most of these positions with the local talent available in Queensland and the state would profit significantly from the taxes generated by the casino.