Tasmanian casino referendum, 1968

The Tasmanian casino referendum was a one-question referendum held on 14 December 1968, which concerned the granting of Australia's first casino licence to the Federal Group to operate the Wrest Point Hotel Casino in Sandy Bay.

Background

The Wrest Point Riviera hotel was purchased by the Federal Group in the 1960s, and the new owners approached Premier Eric Reece about the prospect of the Tasmanian government granting a licence to operate a casino on the premises, citing that the casino would attract tourists during Tasmania's traditional winter "tourist slump". Reece agreed that a casino would be a tourism attraction in Tasmania, but as no casino licence had been granted in Australia before, the government called for a referendum to gauge public support for the issue.

Results

Seat	Enrolled	Valid votes	Yes	No
Bass	40,472	34,989 (86.45%)	16,622 (47.51%)	18,367 (52.49%)
Braddon	42,420	37,189 (87.67%)	18,453 (49.62%)	18,736 (50.38%)
Denison	43,529	38,814 (89.17%)	22,407 (57.73%)	16,407 (42.27%)
Franklin	38,248	34,838 (91.08%)	20,856 (59.87%)	13,982 (40.13%)
Wilmot	41,475	36,871 (88.90%)	18,501 (50.18%)	18,370 (49.82%)
Total	206,144	182,701	96,839 (53.00%)	85,862 (47.00%)

Summary

Yes: 96,839 (53%); No: 85,862 (47%)^[1]
Turnout: 92.67%
Informal votes: 8,339

Aftermath

The referendum passed by a margin of 6%, and the Wrest Point Casino Licence and Development Bill 1968 was passed in October that year, granting the licence to the Federal Group. There was considerable opposition to the casino, and concern over the fact that a monopoly licence was awarded to Federal Hotels without any call for a tender.^[2]

The Wrest Point Hotel Casino was completed and opened in 1973.

References

↑ Referendums in Tasmania, Parliament of Tasmania, 5 August 2002.
↑ Hsu, Cathy (2005). Casino Industry in Asia Pacific: Development, Operation, and Impact. Philadelphia: Haworth Press. p. 162. ISBN 0-7890-2346-6.

Elections and referendums in Tasmania

General elections	1856 1861 1862 1866 1871 1872 1877 1882 1886 1891 1893 1897 1900 1903 1906 1909 1912 1913 1916 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1941 1946 1948 1950 1955 1956 1959 1964 1969 1972 1976 1979 1982 1986 1989 1992 1996 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 next

Legislative Council elections	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Referendums	1898 1899 1916 1968 1981

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