GAMBLING INSIDER

Christchurch Casino has snapped up the opportunity to purchase land surrounding its casino.

The New Zealand-based casino has been open since 1994 operating over 500 slot machines and 36 tables as well as playing host to the country's national poker championships. The casino has been owned by the Sky City Entertainment group who purchased 40.5% of the shares in 2005 for NZ$93.75 million.

The purchase will allow for mass development around the site in the future. Despite the casino having no current plans to do so, the possibility of buying the land was simply too good to pass up on.

It follows a previous, adjacent, smaller purchase of land on which the casino has planned to build their new hotel, The Peterborough. The plan is to build an NZ$85m 200-room hotel on what is currently a car park to help increase tourist revenue.

Christchurch Casino chief executive, Brett Anderson, said: "It gives us some flexibility with our future planning, especially with the challenges facing Victoria St if the council goes ahead with the proposed streetscape which includes losing a significant number of car parks."

The additional land, which is 4047sqm, was purchased at an auction for NZ $3.7m which will create an area totalling 11,000sqm in land holdings for the casino.