Chris Morris Townsville Casino Players Club

$35m Makeover Set To Begin At Chris Morris’ Queensland Casino As part of a $35 million redevelopment, demolition work at The Ville Resort Casino, which until September 2015 was known as Jupiters Townsville Hotel & Casino, owned by Chris Morris, founder, and chairman o. Jupiters Townsville Hotel and Casino is set to be renamed The Ville after an extensive refurbishment. Redevelopment plans for Jupiters Townsville Hotel and Casino have been revealed with a ‘vision in mind to develop the property into a contemporary entertainment precinct for North Queensland’ according to owners Colonial Leisure Group (CLG). Chris Morris says he has bought the worst-performing casino in Australia, but after a $20 million facelift the Townsville casino will be a cash cow that will fund his expanding Queensland tourism.

Chris Morris Townsville Casino Hotel

Tourism and hospitality tycoon Chris Morris affirms to have bought the “worst-performing casino” in Australia, but after a $20 million makeover, the Townsville casino will be a gold mine that will fund his growing Queensland tourism empire.

Chris Morris, ranked #47 by Forbes in the Australia’s 50 richest, is a self-made millionaire with a net worth of $590 million. In 1978, he founded a global share-registry company Computershare, one of the first and biggest technology success stories in Australia, which brought him his name and wealth and of which is he is currently a non-executive chairman. Even though he has never been a dazzling software developer and programmer, his vision and strong feeling for great business opportunities is what brought him to the place he is at right now. Currently, with his experience and his money, Morris can afford investing into Australian casinos although he has resisted installing pokies machines in his hotels and pubs on the grounds they are immoral. However, he does not have a problem with them in casinos, since people make a conscious decision to go to casinos and spend money on gambling nevertheless.

Morris’s Colonial Leisure Group entered into an agreement to buy Echo Entertainment Group’s Jupiters Townsville casino for $70 million in January. They sealed the deal last month after having received the probity clearance.

Echo Entertainment Group, one of Australia’s largest publicly listed entertainment, said in January that Jupiters Townsville had limited expansion opportunities and divesting the casino would allow the company to focus on its other properties in Sydney, Brisbane and Gold Coast.
“With our fingers firmly on the pulse of pleasure, leisure and reinvention, Echo Entertainment Group is the catalyst for your entertainment. Echo Entertainment Group is like entertainment itself … forever evolving,” states the company. Therefore, it is only logical that they have been trying to sell Jupiters Townsville casino for two years, as its one and only income was from the gambling facilities and even expanding it would not bring any profit in the near future.

The Australian Financial Review had an interview with Chris Morris, in which he claimed that the property had great potential, but due to the lack of investment, was in a sad condition.

Mr. Morris said the waterside casino is the “best spot in Townsville” but an outdated design has not made enough of the views out to the spectacular Magnetic Island. And although the place gets around 2,000 visitors a day, it has struggled to encourage spending outside of the 350 poker machines and 50 gaming tables, he said. Gambling was the only Jupiters’ function, and the potential for the other activities and entertainment was not used to its fullest.

“The only reason people were going there was to gamble,” he said. “The food and beverage offering … was very average.”

Chris Morris, will spend at least $20 million on the major renovation and refurbishment, and on entirely redesigning the venue. He is going to introduce multiple restaurants and bars into the facility, which is typical of his hotels in Perth and Melbourne. It is a long-term project and he does not expect to make a profit for the next four years. The Jupiters deal drives his investments in Queensland in the past three years over $100 million. Mr. Morris’s vision is to create high-end packages for international tourists that wish to visit the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree and the outback. Thus they could stay at his trio of exceptional venues. He targets rich tourists who can afford paying $1400 per night and it is definitely important to create an impeccable atmosphere to satisfy all their needs. Mr. Morris is taking his tourism business very seriously. For instance, he bought a fleet of helicopters to transport guests from Cairns to Orpheus Island.

Jupiters will play a crucial role in this plan to not only expand his whopping business but also to follow his dreams. “Having the casino allows you the cash flow to do other things,” he said. And at the age of 66 he can afford it.

Chris Morris Townsville Casino Entertainment

Despite the fact that the fight between Echo Entertainment and Crown Resorts to build a new casino in Brisbane and a proposed $8 billion mega gambling resort in Cairns are reinforced by the prospect of a boom in Chinese visitors, Mr. Morris believes his efforts in Townsville are aimed more at the locals, taking into consideration that there are limited direct flights to the regional centre.

To make up for his lack of gaming business experience and to take advantage of Jupiter’s “huge potential”, Mr. Morris has poached a casino guru Brad Morgan, who recently ran SkyCity Entertainment’s Darwin casino.

He said that Jupiters Townsville had been the worst-performing casino in Australia for a while, but why invest into the best-performing business which would be impossible to change and improve?

The owner of Townsville’s ‘The Ville-Resort-Casino’, Chris Morris, has reportedly purchased the landmark development site opposite from his own resort in what will likely be a $10 million deal.

It is believed that the 2.9ha site, will be used to develop more ­accommodation for the resort, to provide land to stage big outdoor events and for car parking. It’s situated perfectly at the end of the peninsula on which the casino is built.

Mr Morris purchased The Ville Resort-Casino for $70 million in 2014 and confirmed he had entered into a contract to buy the land but declined to comment further.

“I’m bound by a confidentiality agreement,” Mr Morris told the Townsville Bulletin.

A $30 million redevelopment is currently underway at The Ville to provide three new restaurants, a poolside function space for 700 people, an infinity-edge pool with private cabanas and swim-up bar and an elevated deck connecting the pool to the hotel’s lobby level.

Chris Morris Townsville Casino Buffet

According to sources, the work has meant land at the front of the resort previously used for open-air events will be no longer available and so the property needed extra space.

Even before the expansion work began, the 200-room resort needed more accommodation and car parking.

The price for the land is believed to be around the $10 million mark – well short of the almost $50 million paid by former Gold Coast developer Resort Corp for the site from Consolidated Properties at the peak of the property boom.

The site was marketed by Colliers International, who declined to comment but Sally Elliott of Smith and Elliott Real Estate who sold units off the plan for the Saltwater project said it was a signature site deserving of a spectacular development.

“It’s a signature site for Townsville and North Queensland and needs a person with a lot of vision and an overdose of testosterone,” Ms Elliott said.