It is back to the drawing board for ASF Group and Caesars Entertainment as the plug was pulled on their proposed partnership for a new integrated casino resort development on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Plug pulled on Gold Coast casino Source: Mike:R via Wikipedia Commons

The Queensland minister for state development and the minister for natural resources and mines have written to ASF, the investment company that has held the rights to a new casino project on the coast for more than four years, saying that the process has been terminated.

As reported this week, ASF had planned to bring in Caesars Entertainment to run the casino on the land. For the past three years, ASF has been the preferred developer and is “extremely disappointed and surprised” at the government’s “sudden decision” to terminate the project on the Southern Spit.

ASF has indicated that it is now going to re-think the project, which was originally to have cost AU$3bn. The present thinking from the Queensland government, however, may preclude anything further happening, at least on the Southern Spit.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the Spit “needs to be preserved” and wants to see something akin to New York’s Central Park built there.

The casino licence for ASF, however, appears to be intact, and the company will now probably downscale the plans.