Betting is on Cairns

Cairns would become Australia's answer to Las Vegas under a controversial scheme to transform it into the national centre for poker machines.

The proposal was aired on 5th July at Brisbane at one of the tourism industry's key annual conventions, Tourism Futures.

It would copy the US model, where Nervada is the only state to have no significant restrictions on gaming machines. Under the "Aus Vegas" proposal, clubs would have to sell their poker machine licenses back to the Government or relocate their pokies to Cairns and become shareholders in the new enterprise. The state's four major casinos would be exempt.

From: The Sunday Mail, July 4 2010