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Burswood Entertainment Complex and Casino

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3 February to 29 March

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Burswood Entertainment Complex

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The Burswood Entertainment Complex is located on the Swan River some five minutes from the city of Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by Crown Limited. The complex includes a 24-hour casino, seven restaurants, eight bars, a nightclub, two international hotels (a luxury 5-star InterContinental and a 4-star Holiday Inn), a Convention Centre, Theatre and the Burswood Dome. Burswood Train Station, near the Burswood Dome, provides a public transport link to the Perth CBD.

History

1980s

In 1984, the Western Australian Government proposed at the suggestion of Perth businessman Dallas Dempster that a casino complex be constructed at Burswood Island on the Swan River, 3km east of the Perth city centre. This was the site of a large landfill facility, which posed difficulties in the proposal, design and construction phases due to the risk of subsidence resulting from decomposition and also the risk of release of effluent into the adjacent river as a result of pile driving for the construction.

The winning bidder to build the complex was Tileska Pty Ltd, a joint venture between Dallas Dempster and Genting Berhad, a Malaysian casino operator. At the time, there were allegations by rival bidders of misconduct between Dempster and his friend, Western Australian Premier Brian Burke.

This consortium planned a two-stage construction. The first stage was initially expected to cost A$200m, and involved futuristic-looking buildings comprising a 135-table casino, 400-room hotel, 18-hole golf course, convention and exhibition centre, tennis courts, amphitheatre and other amenities, together with a beautification of the Burswood Island area.The second stage of the plan involved the A$100m construction of another hotel on the site, but no time schedule was ever set for this and the second hotel was not constructed until two decades later.

The Tileska joint venture took up 60% of the capital in the Burswood Property Trust, which was to own the complex. Genting would run the resort, having experience operating casinos in Malaysia's Genting Highlands.

Construction of the resort was approved by the Western Australian Parliament in March 1985. It was hoped that the hotel-casino complex would be ready in time for the 1987 America's Cup race, to be hosted by Perth and construction was to be to a tight schedule in order to achieve that deadline.

The Burswood Property Trust was listed on Australian stock exchanges on 30 May 1985.

When it opened on 30 December 1985, Burswood Island Casino (as it was then known) was the largest in Australia, and third-largest in the world. It was expected to receive two to three million visitors per year and have an annual gross profit of A$100m. The public interest in the casino proved so much in its early months of operation that it posted a gross profit of A$1 million per day for its first two months, far outstripping expectations. In its early weeks of opening, people were reportedly forced to queue at the entrance for hours as the gaming floor was at its full legal capacity.

The Burswood Island Casino was opened several months ahead of schedule, and the other parts of Stage 1 (including the hotel, conference centre, theatre and indoor stadium) remained under construction throughout 1986 and much of 1987.

By January 1987, the complex recorded its three millionth visitor. Not sharing in this financial success, the Burswood Property Trust encountered financial difficulties and sold the hotel operations in the under-construction Burswood Island Hotel to Japanese investor Brisney Pty Ltd, a joint venture between investment company Yunan Development Co Ltd and hotel operator Kanematsu Trading Co Ltd.

On 28 August 1987, the Burswood Dome indoor sports stadium was opened to the public, and was noted as being by far the largest auditorium in the southern hemisphere.

The hotel's opening was delayed by 85 days, largely as a result of inclement weather and industrial disputes. This delay meant that the hotel and conference centre was not available during the early stages of the America's Cup race, necessitating refunds to overseas visitors.

Although the 417-room Burswood Island Hotel opened its doors to the public on 4 October 1987, the hotel's management reportedly allowed one of the casino's highest rollers to stay there a day early, during which time he won A$1.4 million,[16] which was believed at the time to be the highest amount ever won by an individual in an Australian casino.

The Burswood Convention Centre was opened on 20 November 1987, and on 8 April 1988, the entire Burswood Island complex had its official opening.

1990s

The casino was expanded in 1990, and an improved International Room (for high-rolling punters) was unveiled in 1995. 1998 saw the corporatisation of the Burswood Property Trust, and also saw the complete renovation of the Burswood Theatre.

In 1999, the management of Burswood undertook an extensive refurbishment program of the hotel rooms, to maintain Burswood's reputation as Perth's best hotel.

2000s

In 2000, a $96 million resort renovation and improvement program was undertaken.

2001 and 2002 saw the opening of the Ruby Room nightclub and Champion's Bar, both within the casino, and also the opening of the Grand Ballroom.

In 2003, Burswood entered into a deal with land developer Mirvac Fini for the residential development of vacant land between the complex and the Graham Farmer Freeway.

Picking up from the long-neglected Stage 2 of the Burswood development plan, in the early 2000s the management of Burswood made various plans to build a second hotel on the site. Eventually, in 2003 they entered into a joint venture deal with the InterContinental Hotels Group to run the existing Burswood Resort Hotel (to be re-branded as Burswood InterContinental Hotel) and a new, 291-room Holiday Inn hotel to be constructed adjacent to the Burswood Theatre.

In 2004, PBL acquired full control of the Burswood International Resort Casino, and in 2005 re-branded the site as "Burswood Entertainment Complex".

On 1 August 2005, the Holiday Inn Burswood opened for business after 29 months of construction.[18] Construction finished three months early and was A$2 million under budget.[18] The promoters proclaimed that it was "Perth's first purpose-built hotel in more than 12 years".

In 2006, Burswood closed its renowned fine-dining Windows Restaurant in order to make way for a newer, expanded VIP room for high rollers. This new facility, called The Pearl Room, opened in late 2006 featuring 180 degree Swan River views. It replaced the old International Room which closed its doors following the unveiling of The Pearl Room.

In 2007, Burswood opened The Riviera Room - a new gaming room featuring higher stakes open to the general public. The Riviera Room is located at the site of the old International Room, and has been refurbished to feature a contemporary design.

MINQ, an exclusive late night bar, accessible only by a hosted lift at the entrance of The Riviera Room, opened in August 2007. Carbon Sports Bar opened in December 2007 and features a giant 12.5 x 4m wide screen and 16 x 52-inch plasmas.

Casino

The Casino at Burswood Entertainment Complex operates 24 hours, 7 days a week. It is the only casino operator in Perth, Western Australia. There are 1,500 coin operated game machines with a variety of games such as Keno, Video Poker and others involving dice, dominoes and balls. Jackpots are linked to many of these games. The reel-slots popular elsewhere in Australia and the rest of the world, operated with a pull down lever, are not permitted in Western Australia.

The table games include Baccarat, Mini Baccarat, Blackjack, Roulette, Poker (Texas Hold'Em, Omaha), Three Card Poker, Casino War, Progressive Texas Hold'Em, Ultimate Texas Hold'Em, Four Card Poker, Pai Gow, Money Wheel, Sic Bo and Caribbean Stud. The Blackjack tables in the main casino use Continuous Shuffling Machines, but in The Pearl Room most of the Blackjack tables offer hand shuffled 8 deck games dealt from a shoe. All Australian Blackjack games are played without a hole card.

The Casino at Burswood Entertainment Complex is a smoke free venue with designated semi-outdoor smoking terraces near most bars. The terraces lead outside but do not allow patrons to exit the premises. Although Perth now has a law that bans smoking inside of all pubs and clubs, the casino implemented this rule long before they were legally obliged to. The Pearl Room (for VIP guests), is the only area inside the casino that allows smoking on and around the gaming floor. To cater for this exception, a state-of-the-art ventilation system was installed during its construction.

Burswood Park

The area surrounding the Casino is known as Burswood Park and is managed by the Burswood Park Board. Originally a rubbish tip from the mid 1940s, the construction of the casino complex also saw the parklands regenerated into a public recreational facility. Today the park contains wildflower displays, a heritage trail with various statues, and the Burswood Park Public Golf Course.

Burswood Dome

The Burswood Dome is a large enclosed venue for entertainment, sporting, or special events. The dome is 8,800 square metres in size, with seating for 13,600 people (or 8,000 during tennis matches). The whole arena is pressurised so that the fibreglass roof is suspended 35m above the ground.

It has played host to a range of international and Australian performers and shows including Michael Jackson, Iron Maiden, U2, Coldplay, Mariah Carey, Elton John, The Boy From Oz, Guns N' Roses, The Wiggles, Justin Timberlake, Billy Joel, AC/DC, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani and more.

The Burswood Dome was originally due to be demolished after hosting its last contracted Hopman Cup in 2007. Due to the Burswood Peninsula apartments being opened, it was announced the Delta Goodrem concert in July 2005 would be the last concert held at the Dome. The WA government have since come to an agreement to hold 10 concerts a year up till December 2007, and extend the Hopman Cup contract till 2008. This was later extended to 2011, until the completion of Perth Arena.

The Perth Wildcats basketball club have also played occasional games at the Burswood Dome when their regular venue was unavailable.

The A-League football (soccer) team Perth Glory is considering using the Dome as their home ground during the 2007-08 season, although the club in negotiation with regards to capacity at the indoor venue, as they are aiming for an average of 12,500 people at each home game. (Credit: Wikipedia).

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Burswood Entertainment Complex

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