Australian Casinos 2000 and Beyond

Introduction | Why Gaming Has Expanded so Rapidly | So, who is the current market for all these games of chance and why do they play? | What then does all this mean for the casino of the year 2000 and beyond? | Can this current formula survive the future in Australia? | What though of the internal product of the casino? | What other things will change? | Why is this? | Will this be allowed to continue till the eventual extinction of table games? Is a casino still a casino if it doesn’t offer table games? | Conclusion |

A concise and possibly simplistic view of why gaming has expanded so rapidly is as follows:

The wider populations discretionary disposable income has grown significantly in recent times along with a growth in available leisure time. Thus we have people with money to spend and time on their hands.

The strong moral and religious stance of gambling being improper has diminished with social change and the diminishing power of the church.

Changes in control of casinos in the early 1970’s in the U.S. from mobster tainted operations to those associated with large Hotel corporations such as Hilton Hotels legitimised what had been perceived as a corrupt industry. Also casinos started to list on the stock exchange which brought what are known as “mom and pop” investors into the industry.

Strict regulations and high levels of taxation were imposed upon and accepted by casino operators in new jurisdictions. Thus other jurisdictions began looking favourably upon casinos.

Governments in the 1980’s faced bleak economic times and thus were looking for politically palatable forms of revenue raising. Here they turned to gaming for which high public demand existed and from which tax revenues are in some ways a simple consumption tax. Furthermore in the case of casinos huge one-off licence fees could be required as payment in new jurisdictions in order to win a bid for a new casino licence.

Casinos have also been looked upon to regenerate blighted urban areas, generate tourist traffic and create jobs, all of which are highly desirable. And finally,

Technology has aided by way of providing closed circuit surveillance systems and on-line monitoring systems. These ensure a high degree of integrity exists in regard to the games in operation.

Thus for these and other reasons gaming and casinos have boomed in the 1990’s. Importantly this has not just happened in Australia but in many parts of the world.