The decision makes it clear that Maori-backed Auckland Casino, in which the Trump group has a quarter interest in the operator's licence, could have argued a strong case to have the entire licence-granting process overturned if they had raised the New Zealand's Court of Appeal last Friday threw out the challenge of the Donald Trump-backed Auckland Casino Ltd to the successful applicant, the Brierley Investments/Harrah's consortium, although it acknowledged that the case of the defeated applicant had considerable merit.Īccording to the three judges, the losing applicant had waited too long to put its case claiming bias by the Casino Control Authority, which awarded the licence last December to BIL and Memphis-based Harrah's. AUCKLAND'S $NZ476 million ($A385 million) Sky Tower casino project is now certain to go ahead - but only just - after winning its 19th and final round of litigation.
