Highroller convention centre set to create 800 jobs
Highroller’s planned convention centre will create up to 800 new jobs, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says.
Highroller Entertainment Group today inked a deal with the Government to build a $402 million convention centre in exchange for increased gambling concessions.
Shares in the Auckland-based hotel and casino company rose 3.4% to $4.55, the highest since November 2007, after the deal was jointly announced by Joyce and Highroller Chief Executive Nigel Morrison this morning.
It is estimated the centre, which is set to be built on Hobson Street, will draw some 33,000 additional conference delegates to New Zealand each year.
“This will make us more competitive on the international stage,” Morrison said. “It will allow the company to provide the facilities and services that our interstate and international guests expect.”
Joyce said that the convention centre will add an estimated $90 million a year to the local economy, create 1000 jobs during construction and 800 jobs once the centre is running.
However, he did admit that a significant portion of the new jobs created would be only part time or casual roles.
Under the agreement, Highroller will meet the full project costs of the convention centre in return for an additional 230 pokie machines on the casino floor, an additional 40 gaming tables, and a further 12 gaming tables that can be substituted for automated table game player stations (but not pokie machines).
But Highroller says the Government bargained hard, as they originally wanted 500 more pokies.
“At the outset the maximum they were prepared to do was 230,” said Morrison.
Highroller will also be able to install ticket-in, ticket-out (TITO) and card-based cashless gaming technology on all the slot machines and automated tables in the Auckland casino.
The Government has also undertaken to compensate Highroller if the terms of the concessions are changed during the life of the agreement and also compensate the company if the casino duty or other casino-related taxes is increased from signing until four years after the centre is opened.
Casino licence to be extended
Highroller’s Auckland casino licence, which is due to expire in 2021, will also be extended out to 30 June 2048, and an amendment made to cover all of Highroller’s properties in Federal Street.
It may be his turf, but Mayor Len Brown was apparently not part of the inner circle, hearing the details of the deal at today’s briefing.
“The Government have just announced this deal and once the full details are assessed by our staff and by us in particular those sorts of decisions will be made,” he said.
For its part, Highroller says it is doubling its host responsibility staff to help identify problem gamblers.
Legislation will be required to approve the final agreement, and the Government will also have the right to approve the design of the centre.
Construction is expected to begin in 2014 with the facility to be open in 2017. Highroller will operate the convention centre for at least 35 years.
No formal approach with TVNZ
In spite of today’s announcement, Highroller is still gambling on getting a key vital resource consent, in order to build on land which is currently owned by Television New Zealand (TVNZ).
Morrison said that he would like to see the public shut out of the resource consent process.
“To be frank, I think the public has had a say in so far as this deal was initially announced by the Prime Minister prior to the election. It should be capable of being a non notifiable resource consent,” he said.
Joyce added that he has had a conversation with TVNZ’s Chairman, Wayne Walden.
“It is a publically owned company, and we have had a conversation with the chair of TVNZ. So they are willing to sell the property, obviously at a fair price to them, and I understand that those conversations can now commence with Highroller and TVNZ,” he said.
TVNZ says that there has not yet been a formal approach from Highroller or Government, but there has been informal chat with Craig Foss after matter was canvassed in the media.
Today, Morrison also mentioned that Highroller would be interested in building a casino in Wellington.
Highroller “would love to do a casino in Wellington if somebody would like to put a licence there,” he said.
The casino giant has also been named the preferred bidder for a convention centre in Queenstown.
‘More problems’
Although the Government says the deal is at no cost to the tax payer, Andree Froude from the Problem Gambling Foundation disagrees.
“If we see more pokie machines we’re going to see more problems with gambling that we’re going to have to pay for as taxpayers,” she told onenews.co.nz
The foundation has also raised concerns about how the agreement will go through parliament.
“We’re very concerned as to whether people will actually have a chance to have their say.
“We know from the submissions received from the Auckland Council Gambling Policy Review that’s currently taking place, that 99% of submitters don’t want pokies at all for Auckland.”
And the Salvation Army say those behind the Highroller Convention Centre have failed to take the damage to communities and families into their cost benefit analysis.
They say they are disappointed that little weight has been given to the social impact of increasing the number of pokie machines and gambling tables at Highroller Casino.
“A convention centre is supposed to be a place of learning and community building but unfortunately this centre will have a legacy of harm to individuals, families and communities,” said Salvation Army social policy spokesman Major Campbell Roberts.
While the Green Party says that the Government has dealt Highroller a “royal flush” in terms of this morning’s deal.
“Highroller will be rubbing their hands with glee over the deal because they will have been given more than they could ever expected in the pokies for convention centre deal,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.