With mini casinos everywhere it's tough to be the real deal

I was far too busy drinking myself silly at Bobby McGees to visit the Casino when it was at the convention centre but wasn’t the Canberra casino the first to open in this neck of the woods (ie North of Wrest Point and South of Jupiters)? If so, no wonder it’s gone downhill, it can’t attract the Sydney/Melbourne gamblers.

Down a dodgy side alleyway, under a anonymous hotel, you’ll find a dark dull den of overpriced lack lustre games. Another in the long list of commercial Canberra failures strangled by bureaucratic distaste of crass commercialism.

The casino should be relocated in an over the top Vegas style pleasure palace on the lake. Fountains, fireworks, dancing girls and elephants spinning the wheels is what’s needed.

Hiding the casino away as if it’s a sexual diseases clinic is not the way to happy times.

“The casino has blamed unfavourable economic conditions and its lack of poker machines for the decision.”

I’m surprised ABC fell for that one. There is an absence of poker machines at Casino Canberra. There is no “lack” of poker machines.

Clearly they haven’t been donating enough to the party!

Who remembers when they used to market themselves as a place to get good coffee after the other cafes in Civic closed, or where you could get a gourmet meal overlooking Glebe Park, or… well I could go on. Point is when you think of The Star or Crown, you think destination. When you, or perhaps if on the off chance you think of Casino Canberra, who here thinks of it as a destination. I doubt anyone.

I remember walking into Peter’s office back in the late 90s while he was reading “Marketing for Dummies” ….. good to see he is still there and putting his “Knowledge” to good use.

I’ve always thought they should try and refocus as an entertainment venue. The term “Casino” does not necessarily mean gambling (e.g. Sugarloaf Casino on Catalina Island).

There have been so many live music venues in Civic over the decades that have usually reached a peak of popularity and fond regards from patrons, only to suffocated with restrictions and eventually being killed by neighbors opposed to noise. Having a somewhat isolated venue (but still convenient to Civic), purpose-built for entertainment could really be a winner.

Nevertheless they should keep fleecing the gambling punters solong as they have a license!

1. That place has pretty much run at a loss since they moved from the Convention Centre
2. The original condition on being granted a gaming licence was that Canberra already had too many pokies so they had to operate without them
3. Maybe if they stop spending millions each year in legal fees fighting the Government for pokies – they might make a profit
4. Stop thinking increasing table limits will increase your profit, it works the other way. Bring back $5 tables, $1 roulette and $60 poker tournaments. Which table will make more money ? A $50 table with not one player all night, or a $5 table with all seat full all night ?