Social concerns over proposed casino expansion

	An artist's rendition of what the six star Crown Towers will look like at Burswood.

The social welfare charity Anglicare is concerned about plans to add another 500 poker machines and more than 100 gaming tables to the Burswood Casino.

Yesterday it was announced that a 500 room, six-star hotel is set to be built alongside the Burswood casino complex in Perth.

The State Government has sold the land to the James Packer-owned company Crown for $60 million.

The hotel will cost nearly $500 million to build and is due to open in mid 2016.

Crown is also applying for an additional 500 gaming machines and 130 gaming tables.

Anglicare's chief executive Ian Carter says the impact the extra gaming machines will have on families should not be underplayed.

"We don't need an expansion of more opportunities for people to lose money," he said.

"We need to be clear here that the potential for family and marriage break down and for people to get into significant financial difficulty is associated with problem gambling.

"It's an issue in our community we're seeing increasing evidence of gambling opps being made available."

The new development also spells the end of the Burswood golf course.

Jeff McCann from the Burswood Residents Action Group, which has been lobbying to keep the course, says the news has come from left field.

"In many respects we feel deceived and we're very very disappointed," he said.

However, the Premier Colin Barnett has welcomed the development, saying the project will help ease the accommodation shortage in Perth.

"I am told it will be the best hotel in Australia by a significant margin and will do so much to help overcome the high quality shortage of hotel rooms in Perth," he said.

The Tourism Minister Kim Hames says it will help combat the shortage but more needs to be done.

"This will be the start of the change in this," he said.

"We will continue to work as a Government with other sites such as the Elizabeth Quay Development, the sinking of the railway line, East Perth development and of course we have recently announced the FESA house development.

"They will provide opportunities for the future to further address the hotel needs we have in this state."

Source: ABC News, 2 August 2012