State tells Crown, Echo to cool it over casino development NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has advised the competing bids for casino developments in Sydney to take a "cold shower" and warned them that public lobbying will not sway the government's decision, as it emerged yesterday that a disgruntled former employee of The Star casino was behind a so-called "smear campaign" against Echo chief executive John Redmond. Echo yesterday launched a newspaper advertising campaign, headlined "We're aiming higher for Sydney," to lobby for its bid to have its exclusive licence period extended beyond its expiry in 2019 after it promised to spend more than $1 billion to develop more luxury hotels and related infrastructure in the Darling Harbour-Pyrmont precinct.