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Packer Bets on UK Deregulation

AUSTRALIA – As reported by the Australian: "It could be Kerry Packer's biggest gamble yet. A pound stg. 300 million ($757 million) punt, even for Australia's richest man, renowned for his love of casinos, is a fair whack.

"But Packer, who has a personal fortune of more than $5 billion and owns the Nine television network, knows better than most that in the gaming world the house always wins. In 1999 he reportedly lost pound stg. 11 million on a single visit to Crockfords, a British casino. But his latest pound stg. 300 million punt is being spent on the house rather than in it.

"Last week he announced plans for his private company Consolidated Press Holdings to build a new pound stg. 50 million leisure complex in England with British entrepreneur Damian Aspinall, as the first part of a multi-staged assault on Britain's gaming market.

"Now Packer wants to cash in on major changes to Britain's antiquated gaming laws, which are about to be relaxed.

"The Australian can reveal that Packer is planning to sink an additional pound stg. 250 million in building a further five casinos in Britain and has already begun negotiations with planners and authorities.

"…Packer is jostling with some of the world's key casino players to grab a major piece of the action in what is one of the few remaining gaming markets left to be deregulated.

"…Experts predict Britain is about to create its own Las Vegas-style gaming Meccas, but there are still plenty of details of the gaming overhaul yet to be finalised.

"…Nothing will be certain until it becomes law in the first quarter of next year…"

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