Tiny outback towns in Queensland could be turned into Las Vega style gambling meccas to help reduce problem gambling and to help boost tourist numbers.
The radical plan – which has gained the support of state MP Aidan McLindon – would see pokies taken from gambling-saturated cities and moved west. The ABC reports that the plan could involve construction of a ‘Birdsville Bellagio’ or see a pyramid-shaped casino beside Mount Isa’s famous mining stacks.
“It just needs someone with the money who wants to do it,” Diamantina mayor Robbie Dare said. “There’s plenty
of room there.”
Diamantina – which takes in Birdsville, covers 6 per cent of the state. It has 305 residents and not a single gaming machine.
Over in Mount Isa, mayor John Molony said his town was the ‘Damascus of tourism in Queensland’ – all roads led to it – and would be a logical location for ‘Aus Vegas’.
He nominated nearby Lake Moondarra as a potential site that could draw international tourists.
“My council is a consultative council and that would be something my council would take to the people,” Mr Molony told the ABC. “We’ve got a couple of the biggest clubs in Australia here . . . and it may well be that one wants to take it on. At the moment, you’ve got people from South-East Asia flying to (Melbourne’s) Crown Casino.”
Mr McLindon – who has campaigned against pokies – says venues would relocate gaming machines to a central area. He previously suggested Cairns as a location but local officials rejected that idea.
Almost nine million visits are made to Queensland casinos and millions of dollars lost each year.
