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SAJC secures Cheltenham club licence

Jul 28, 2014

The South Australian Jockey Club has cleared a major hurdle in its long battle to build a $7 million gaming and entertainment venue in the St Clair housing development

Having sold off its Cheltenham Racecourse in 2007 and closed it in February 2009, the SAJC planned to move 40 poker machines 270m from the Lucky Horseshoe in the old grandstand to a new venue in the 1200-home St Clair housing development on Cheltenham Parade.

It has faced protracted opposition from the Cheltenham Residents’ Association and Charles Sturt Mayor Kirsten Alexander.

The SAJC stopped spending money on the design aspects because of the delays, having already invested about $385,000 on the project.

It closes the old venue at midnight tonight, confident it is on track to build its larger, permanent venue within two years.

SAJC chief executive Brenton Wilkinson told InDaily today that it had been a long haul.

“Sadly, there are 10 staff who lose their jobs at the close tonight; but many of them have secured other work.

“This plan has been continually delayed as the club moves through a regulatory process, including applying for a new Club Licence and Gaming Licence. This process will cost the SAJC in excess of $1 million by the time the required licences are obtained.

Wilkinson said it was frustrating that the club had been  unable to effect a seamless transition to the Cheltenham Parade site, as it was merely seeking to relocate the existing venue to a site just 270 metres to the south.

“That said, I accept the right of people to object and have their views considered, which the Licensing Court has done.

“The court has considered everything before it and ruled in our favour.”

Its application for a new Club Licence, an Extended Trading approval and Entertainment Consent were agreed to by the Licensing Court last week after four days of hearings in June.

The club’s next step is to seek a gaming licence for 40 gaming machines from the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner.

If that’s approved and building consent is finalised, it will still take about a year to build the  new facility.

During hearings, the court heard from Wilkinson, the Cheltenham Park Residents’ Association and Charles Sturt Council’s manager of planning and development.

The court heard that the St Clair residential development was 20-25 per cent built and “has started to take off”.

Wilkinson told the court that the Lucky Horseshoe venue was pivotal to the racing club’s finances.

He said the proposed Club Licence was a larger version of that which the SAJC operated at Morphettville and which was known as “The Junction”.

Wilkinson told the court the SAJC loses $3 million a year and the gaming venues contribute more than $1.1 million to its revenue streams.

“The SAJC’s licensed clubs have, from a financial point of view, propped up horse racing,” Judge Wilkinson noted in his decision.

The decision is a blow to the Cheltenham Park Residents’ Association, which lost an appeal against the development in the Environment, Resources and Development Court in November last year.

The closure of the current licensed club in the old grandstand means the developers can now knock down the structure – a final act in the long process of ending racing at Cheltenham which dated back to 1921.

The final day crowd in 2009 in front of the old grandstand

Cheltenham Racecourse, SAJA, horses social pics

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