Echo has mystery "plan B"

Echo has mystery "plan B"

• BY PETRINA BERRY
• AAP
• OCTOBER 31, 2014 12:48PM

ECHO Entertainment says it has a mystery back-up plan if it loses a Brisbane casino development bid to rival Crown.

JAMES Packer's Crown Resorts and Echo earlier this week submitted their proposals to develop a casino on prime real estate in the city's centre known as the Queen's Wharf precinct.

During Echo's annual general meeting on Friday, a shareholder asked what would the company do if it were to lose out to Crown.

Echo's chairman John O'Neill reassured shareholders that there was a back-up plan.

"I'm not at liberty today to divulge what Plan B is but rest assured that the company has a plan B," he replied.

Chief executive Matt Bekier told reporters after the AGM that it would be a blow to Echo's competitive advantage if Crown were to win.

"To have two casinos right next door to each other on a constrained site ... we'll have to do the best we can in the location," he said. "We're not going to go away but it's not the ideal outcome."

He said Treasury's 135 hotel rooms were not enough to bring in customers as modern casinos were integrated resorts.

"You need many different hotels with different brands, different price points, you need many different restaurants and bars and attractions," he said.

"We are excited about the potential prospect of taking the casino into a modern new facility and reopening the old property for a different purpose, whether it's retail or a hotel."

He admitted that Echo's Gold Coast's Jupiters Casino would become "a lot more important" if Crown got its hooks into Brisbane.

During the AGM, he told shareholders that Echo had put forward a "responsible offer" for Queen's Wharf in partnership with two large Asian developers and moved to reassure them about Echo's stronghold.

He said Echo's long term leases on Treasury and Lands Administration buildings meant they have ongoing control over a very significant piece of the greater Queen's Wharf footprint.

"The control of this site and the proximity to Jupiters Gold Coast also means we have a credible long-term presence in Brisbane should the competing bid be selected," he said.

The Queensland government is expected to announce a decision on Queen's Wharf early next year.

Crown earlier this year trumped Echo for a second casino in Sydney.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/business/e...oses-brissie-bid/story-fnjbnvte-1227108225267