Brisbane to go more than three days without a casino as Treasury closes

Almost 30 years after a heritage-listed government office building reopened as a 24-hour entertainment venue, Brisbane’s Treasury Casino will close its doors at the stroke of midnight on Sunday.

The closure will leave Brisbane without a casino until 2pm on Thursday, when The Star will open as the main gambling venue in the $4 billion Queen’s Wharf precinct.

Daniel Finch, The Star Entertainment Group’s Brisbane CEO, said Treasury Casino patrons would be “farewelled politely” at 11.59pm on Sunday.

Brisbane’s Treasury Casino will close at midnight on August 25, ahead of the opening of Queen’s Wharf.Credit: Rhett Hammerton

The company’s Queensland licence only allows for one Brisbane casino and moving its operations to Queen’s Wharf is a complex and costly operation. In 2023-24, Treasury Casino generated $177.6 million in revenue for the company – almost $500,000 a day.

Finch said that the decision to close the Treasury Casino and Hotel, which operate out of two adjacent heritage-listed CBD buildings, was “an emotional one” for staff because the company had been the caretaker of the sites since 1995.

The Treasury Hotel will remain operational while the company looks to sell both buildings. It expects both sites to be refurbished and reopen as retail and dining venues before the end of 2025.

“We’ve got some really good negotiations and conversations happening,” Finch said of the sale process.

Queen’s Wharf will be subject to a staged opening from Thursday – two years behind schedule – with the new casino and The Star Grand Hotel’s 3500-square-metre event centre the initial drawcards.

“We’ll have our main gaming floor open, as well as our premium gaming rooms,” said Finch, adding that five restaurants would also open on day one.

The 320-metre-long Neville Bonner Bridge will also open to the public, connecting Queen’s Wharf to South Bank and vice versa.

Finch said Queen’s Wharf would boost Brisbane’s “must-visit” tourist appeal ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“We have just seen recent data that shows that Brisbane has become Australia’s ‘bleisure’ capital, with business visitors spending more time and money in our city compared to any other state,” he said.

The event centre is already taking bookings and future openings at Queen’s Wharf will include the Dorsett and Rosewood hotels.

Queen’s Wharf is being delivered by the Destination Brisbane Consortium, a joint venture between The Star Entertainment Group and its offshore partners, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium.

The Star Entertainment Group – which lost money last month when system issues required its poker machines to be switched off for four days – will announce its financial year results next Friday.

The company has been given until the end of 2024 to prove it should not have its Queensland licence suspended for impropriety. Amid ongoing investigations, and with The Star promising change, the Queensland and NSW governments have postponed their threatened regulatory crackdown.

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