Online Casino, casinos

James Packer has been at the centre of a political- financial polemic which could make newspaper headlines for several weeks. In fact, the billionaire James Packer has accepted to pay a tax of 132 million dollars above the bill he initially received. But the other side of this gesture of gratitude was to get the green light for the opening of several supplementary gaming tables in his luxury hotels. James Packer is at the head of many casinos including the Crown Casino in Australia and like any good Australian he has to pay tax. Packer isn’t questioning his civic duty but was prepared to pay much more than the state asked him for. The problem was that he wanted to have the authorisation to open numerous gaming tables such as baccarat, blackjack, roulette, or Texas hold’em poker tables in his casinos. If accepted by the state, this master stroke could allow him to benefit from about 150 extra gaming tables and when the economic crisis is ancient history, James Packer’s casinos will be able to welcome even more players to the many gaming tables. The problem being that the leaders of the state of Victoria didn’t reveal their discussions with the casino magnate and this silence was misinterpreted by the political opposition. However, the prime minister and the minister for finance have revealed the content of the discussions with Packer and everything was done in an entirely legal manner. However, the opposition doesn’t count on doing nothing and plans to express its suspicions about the two politicians and also Packer.

James Packer was prepared to pay more tax than the fiscal administration demanded of him in order to obtain more gaming tables. This strategy would allow him to benefit from numerous gaming tables and to bring in important revenue when the Australian economy picks up.

A few words on James Packer.

At 41 years of age, James Packer inherited a colossal fortune on the death of his father, Kerry Packer, in 2005. James Packer is at the head of Consolidated Press Holdings (Crown Casinos Limited) and he also owns television stations. This man is among the richest businessmen in Australia and in 2006 his fortune was estimated at 3.7 billion euros. James Packer is associated with Lawrence Ho, the son of the Macao casinos magnate, Stanley Ho and they have created the “City of Dreams” (see “Macao casinos are dependent on the state of health of Stanley Ho"). A complex dedicated to gaming in Macao, it cost 2.4 billion dollars and offers no less than 500 gaming tables, 1,500 slot machines and many luxury shops and high class restaurants.

His good friend Tom Cruise has made James Packer a member of the Church of Scientology and the latter doesn’t hold back when welcoming Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes: the 27,500 dollars a night suite was offered to them during the shooting of a film!

This event which is making news in Australia and which is gaining incomprehensible proportions will soon fall silent and will end with “All that fuss for nothing!” To be continued…

© Casinoweb