Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JAN 2021 88 T he calendar had just flicked over into 2011, and Larry Mullin, CEO of the Casinos Division of Australian gaming giant Tabcorp, was outlining the company’s grand plans for its four Australian casinos. In a wide ranging interview appearing in Inside Asian Gaming ’s January 2011 issue, Mullin explained how Tabcorp was in the midst of an AU$1 billion (US$757 million) transformation of its Sydney flagship, Star City, with another AU$625 million to be spent on upgrades to its three Queensland properties – Treasury Casino & Hotel in Brisbane, Jupiters Hotel & Casino on the Gold Coast and Jupiters Townsville. Aside from enhancing the company’s non-gaming attractions, with 75% of the spend allocated to restaurants, hotels, nightlife and other entertainment, the idea was to provide a genuine alternative to the world-class IR offerings then-recently launched in Macau and Singapore. “I think part of the issue with [the Australian] market is it had gotten complacent, more from a product standpoint in the VIP business or the type of business you see in Asia,” Mullen told IAG at the time. “We haven’t been competitive with the product that we offer to those customers, so even though we’re in a great location here in a city such as Sydney, we just haven’t had the offerings to complement that visit. So now we are going to make sure we offer the international customer the best suite experience in the city, and also give them a VIP experience with the gaming area. We needed to improve all of that so we can compete with places like Macau and Singapore.” 10 YEARS AGO