Lockout laws backlash continues
The casinos have come out against the lockout laws.
Star Entertainment Group Queensland managing director Geoff Hogg has refuted claims that the lockout laws are there to help big business like casinos.
As he says, it’s a completely different market.
“We are not changing what we are doing — the customer base in the market from 3am to 5am is not our core,” Mr Hogg told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
To put it simply, drunks and tourists don’t mix and people in nightclubs between 3am and 5am are not the types the casino sees as its market.
As a result, he said Jupiters Casino won’t be changing its bar hours when Queensland’s new lockout laws come into effect. Drunken nightclub revellers are not welcome.
Mr Hogg’s observations come at a time when Gold Coast bar and nightclub operators are complaining that the 3am last drinks call and next year’s new 1am lockout will create an un-level playing field, simply because casinos are exempt from the new laws.
Nothing could be further from the truth, Mr Hogg said.
“We are not of the view it will be good for our business,” he said. “The statement it is going to be is a perceived position put forward by others.
“When people wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning as tourists in our 600 hotel rooms, you want those people to feel fresh and focused on the options we deliver at that time of the morning, like breakfast.”
“So for us, having bars operating through to those times when people are waking up, is inconsistent.”
This is happening at a time when the Bureau of Crime Statistics in New South Wales is reporting a small increase in assaults around Sydney's Star casino since the New South Wales Government introduced lockout laws at nightspots around the city.
According to the Bureau, there’s been an increase of around two a month on average around the casino.
by Leon Gettler, April 21st 2016
