The Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort is scheduled to be constructed in Yorkeys Knob, Cairns, Queensland at an estimated cost of around $8 billion. This mega casino resort has currently passed all environmental checks but continues to be on hold as the resort’s developer Tony Fung is still negotiating a gaming license deal with the state government.

Business Tycoon and billionaire Fung plans to invest heavily into Queensland to get his casino established and form strong relationships with the state government. Fung has stated that he wants to promote tourism in Queensland aggressively to get more people to see visit the state and his mega-casino resort.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) is very much in favour of the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort and wants the state government to speed up the approval process and not cause any more delays. The CCIQ wants the state government to quickly sort out any issues that are delaying the process, as the construction and development of this mega-casino resort will provide great economic benefits to the state.

Once the state government issues a gaming license and Fung gives the approval for construction to commence, thousands of construction jobs will open up for the local population and Queensland vendors will also be given the opportunity to supply material that will be used in the construction of the casino. Once the casino kick-starts operations, thousands of in-house jobs such as security, stewardesses, managers and card dealers will open up, providing hundreds of jobs to Queensland.

In a statement, Nick Behrens who works for the CCIQ said “If those dollars don’t accrue to far north Queensland they will go elsewhere and we think that would be a shame because that project in itself will be a significant contributor to economic growth in far north Queensland and will be a significant contributor to addressing the youth unemployment problem that Cairns currently experiences. Because of the significance of the integrated resort there would obviously be a number of transport project.”

While there are numerous financial benefits to licensing the mega AquisGreat Barrier Reef Resort, the state government will most likely take its time in issuing Fung a licensee. There have been a number of protests already raised over the proposal to construct the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort as many locals believe it would pose a serious threat to the security and society of Queensland as the casino would be a target for criminals and criminal activity.