{"id":18725,"date":"2021-06-07T15:57:33","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T15:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=18725"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:51:08","slug":"concerns-raised-over-papua-new-guineas-first-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/concerns-raised-over-papua-new-guineas-first-casino","title":{"rendered":"Concerns raised over Papua New Guinea\u2019s first casino"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plans to build a casino in Papua New Guinea have been criticised by social activists who argue the country is not prepared to regulate the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Papua New Guinea.- Paga Hill Development Corporation and the National Gaming Control Board (NGCB) reached an agreement to\u00a0build a US$43m casino in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea<\/strong>, last month. However, social activists have questioned the development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some believe the country is not prepared to regulate casino gaming and fear that the development may lead to gambling harm problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Aitsi<\/strong>, chair of the board at Transparency International PNG, criticised the NGCB for its involvement. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: “It is the referee responsible for applying the rules of the game; they should not be running around as a player on the field.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aitsi added: “The global experience with casinos suggests\u00a0an increased likelihood of money laundering\u00a0<\/strong>and undue political influence where the regulator is weak or is compromised.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plans have also been criticised by\u00a0Paul Barker<\/strong>, executive director of independent thinktank the Institute of National Affairs. He said the country does not have a legal infrastructure<\/strong>\u00a0to deal with the problems that can accompany gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barker said: “Our big neighbour, Australia, has some of the toughest rules and capacity to manage their gambling industry<\/a>, and they also have strong education and social welfare systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Nevertheless Australia has amongst the\u00a0worst levels of gambling addiction in the world<\/a>, with associated damaging social, family and economic consequences.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Barker, Papua New Guinea is not well prepared to host a casino, which he fears would worsen already has serious law and order problems<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, George Hallit, Paga Hill\u2019s chief operating officer, said Papua New Guinea’s first casino will create new job opportunities<\/strong> as the integrated resort will also include a hotel, shopping malls and cinemas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hallit said it would also increase tourism arrivals<\/strong> in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic<\/strong>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plans to build a casino in Papua New Guinea have been criticised by social activists who argue the country is not prepared to regulate the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Plans for a US$43m integrated resort casino in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, by Paga Hill Development Corporation and the National Gaming Control Board (NGCB) are drawing significant criticism. Concerns center on the country's perceived lack of regulatory preparedness, potential for increased gambling harm, money laundering, and undue political influence, particularly given the NGCB's dual role as both regulator and project partner.","focusai_entities":"Paga Hill Development Corporation, National Gaming Control Board, Transparency International PNG, Institute of National Affairs, Peter Aitsi, Paul Barker, George Hallit","focusai_location":"Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, Australia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"NGCB Conflict of Interest?","query":"What specific governance frameworks and independent oversight mechanisms will be implemented to mitigate the perceived conflict of interest arising from the National Gaming Control Board's dual role as regulator and project partner?"},{"label":"Regulatory Preparedness Plan?","query":"What detailed plans are in place to enhance Papua New Guinea's regulatory capacity, legal infrastructure, and responsible gambling provisions to effectively manage the social and economic impacts of a new casino industry?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,28,158],"tags":[23907],"class_list":["post-18725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-casino-news","category-slider-home","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18725"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18738,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725\/revisions\/18738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}