Packer Prepares To Punt On UK Casino Chain

Plans by media magnate and billionaire gambler Kerry Packer to create a UK casino chain with gaming outfit Aspinall's came a step closer yesterday.

The Packer family's Consolidated Press Holdings and the James Aspinall group sold their joint 41 per cent stake in New Zealand's Christchurch casino for $NZ93.7 million ($A80.96 million).

The joint stake in the landmark building has been for sale for more than a year with both partners believed to be keen to tip their equity into developing the much bigger British market.

UK-based Aspinall's, which runs the super-rich favoured Mayfair casino in London, some months ago flagged plans to open a casino in the city of Newcastle.

Aspinall's said then that the Packer family had joined the upmarket business in the investment for which contracts for a 40,000 sq ft site had been exchanged.

UK reports say Aspinall's and the Packer interests plan to create the first of a new mass market casino chain called Aspers.

The UK casino operation, big enough for 1000 people, would include a music bar, gambling tables and poker machines eventually. Their Christchurch casino, controlled by the 41 per cent stake held by Aspinall-Packer interests through Aspinall (NZ), was bought by Sky City Entertainment Group, New Zealand's largest gaming company. The debt-funded acquisition comes after Sky City agreed in February to buy MGM Mirage's Darwin casino.

Sky City, which gets 87 per cent of its earnings from its Auckland casino, is restricted from building new casinos or expanding its existing gaming operations in New Zealand by government rules. To boost earnings, Sky City is buying the Darwin business, upgrading its casino in Adelaide, and building a new hotel and convention centre in Auckland.

Christchurch Casino, based in the largest city on the nation's South Island, has 45 gaming tables, 500 slot machines, two cafes, three bars, a private gaming lounge and two carpark areas. The sale price represents 7.8 times the casino's 2003 pretax earnings, casino chief executive Evan Davies said.