by James Ruggia
Last updated: 7:00 AM ET, Tue November 26, 2013
PHOTO: Destination New South Wales CEO Sandra Chipchase, a huge supporter of the Barangaroo development in Sydney.
A VIP-only casino will be at the heart of Sydney's new Barangaroo development, a $6 billion project that will give the city a vital financial and commercial center similar in concept to London's Canary Wharf.
Event space, parkland and the "six-star", $1.3 billion Crown Hotel and Casino, due in late 2019, will form the major elements of the project. The hotel, at 70 stories, will bring a new profile to the Sydney skyline
The development has been at the center of a spirited political debate between laborites and conservatives in New South Wales. The state's parliament gave the go ahead, though the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority must agree to allowing that James Packer, the chairman of Crown Resorts is "suitable."
Packer, one of Australia's wealthiest men and buddy of Tom Cruise, has made billions in Macau and the Philippines with the casinos operated by the Crown Group. Crown also has a share in Sydney's Star Casino complex.
Laborites insisted that the new casino include no poker machines, don't encroach on existing public space and that such VIP membership restrictions as minimum $30 bets for baccarat, $20 for blackjack and $25 for roulette be imposed and that only "members and guests" be allowed to gamble in the new casino.
Basically, Labor's concern is to protect Australian citizens from the social woes associated with habitual gambling. For Packer and Crown, the hope is to attract the same Chinese market that has made Macau the world's most lucrative gambling capital.
The Central Barangaroo Masterplan has also been amended to include a $27 million waterfront walk and park that will connect it to the city's central business district. Altogether now Sydney's waterfront promenade will run some eight miles from Wolloomoloo to the Anzac Bridge. Barangaroo is only part of an aggressive development agenda.
"Our goal is to make Sydney a global city, to extend its seasonality into winter (our summer), and to put in the right infrastructure to keep the city at the forefront going forward," said Destination New South Wales CEO Sandra Chipchase. "We are Hell bent for leather to do it."
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