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The Wrest Point Hotel Casino, opened in the suburb of Sandy Bay in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia on 10 February 1973. It was Australia's first legal casino.
The site was originally a hotel called the Wrest Point Riviera, built by Arthur Drysdale and opened in 1939. The hotel was later sold to Federal Hotels, who remain the present owners.
In the 1960s, The Federal Group attempted to secure Australia's first casino license. At the time, Tasmania's natural scenery and beauty were not widely known elsewhere, and as a result the state wasn't attracting many tourists. The company hoped that a casino would be the drawcard that would kickstart Tasmania's tourism industry.
One of the companies executives John Haddad (now the Managing Director) was assigned the role of getting a casino license. He met with then Tasmanian Premier Eric Reece and other state officials. A referendum was called, and narrowly passed.
The development of the casino included the construction of the 17-storey hotel tower, a landmark that is nationally idenitified with Hobart, and to this day is still the city's tallest building.
After the centre's opening in 1973 (after which it was known as Wrest Point Hotel Casino) the casino kickstarted the nation's casino industry, with 12 additional casinos opening across the country. This included a second Federal Group casino in Tasmania, the Country Club Resort, which opened in Launceston in 1982.
Since the opening of the casino, the state's tourism industry has boomed, as its management had hoped.
The building has been extended in recent years, including the conference centre which was opened in 1984, and the boardwalk in 1996.
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