
Australian Cove Limited recently unveiled plans for a $300 million dollar casino to be located in Mildura.
The casino would be only the second in Victoria and would give locals a place to gamble, without having to drive nearly six hours to get to Crown.
‘The Mildura’, as it was christened, will be located on the corner of Seventh Street and Langtree Avenue and will include a convention centre and five-star hotel to go alongside the casino.
The hotel would feature 165 rooms, a basement carpark capable of holding 350 cars and plenty of retail space for local businesses.
Close to 140 people in attendance at the launch said they were in support of the project, with Mildura Tourism and The Mildura Development Corporation among them.
Australian Cove Limited is confident they can get State Government approval on the project and say they have plenty of experience in similar undertakings.
However, not everyone is behind the decision with welfare groups worried about the already large amount of money lost in the area at pokies machines.
Some estimates have Mildura residents losing over $70,000 a day at these machines.
Crown Casino can pull over a billion dollars out of pockets annually and adding a second casino would obviously mean something similar for northern Victorians.
A similar casino proposal for Mildura was made in 2010, with then-premier John Brumby labelling the idea as a “high quality proposal”.
The plans never got off the ground, meeting a similar fate met by most plans for a second casino in Victoria.
Another proposal for a casino in Geelong was released in late 2015, with the idea being a waterfront $1 billion dollar venue.
A spokeswoman for the Gaming Minister denied these claims and the State Government recently said they currently have no plans for a second casino in the state.
Casino developer John Haddad has been the man behind both of Mildura’s bids.