Premier Campbell Newman says Echo Entertainment's Queensland casinos are 'not world standard' PREMIER Campbell Newman has hit out at Queensland casino operator Echo Entertainment, saying its gambling establishments in the Sunshine State are "not world standard" and questioning their "licence to print money." But he denies his comments could be interpreted as favourable to billionaire James Packer's Crown group, which is eyeing Brisbane for a new casino. Mr Newman took aim at Echo during a visit to the Gold Coast, where a second casino to rival the 29-year-old Jupiters has been proposed as part of a planned cruise ship terminal development. Echo also operates Brisbane's Treasury Casino and the Breakwater casino in Townsville. The Reef Casino in Cairns, operated by Casinos Austria and hospitality giant Accor, is the state's only casino not run by Echo. Mr Newman said on Wednesday that Echo had been "fairly aggressive" through the media in trying protect its Queensland casino monopoly. He said journalists should start asking Echo "the tough questions about their commitment to Queensland and reinvestment, and how they would justify the need for there to be only one (casino) licence." "They seem to be trying to say to people 'let us keep the monopoly'," he said. That's something they need to be asked - why should they have an exclusive licence to print money essentially in the state of Queensland? Particularly when the venues, arguably, are not world standard. They are not world standard venues any more and they do need to be substantially redeveloped and that's what we want to see happen. Earlier, Mr Newman told ABC local radio that Echo had failed to honour promises to upgrade Jupiters Casino. "We've got a casino down here that was built many years ago, in the 1980s, and we've heard promises before it was going to be refurbished," he said. Probably some money has been spent but, honestly, when I measure that against world-class venues that you can see in other parts of the world, I go 'something isn't quite working'. I think we need significant reinvestment in the current one (Gold Coast casino), which I'm not seeing, and or we need a new one. Echo has proposed swapping its existing Brisbane casino site in the historic Treasury building for a new $1.3 billion complex in redeveloped government buildings further along George St. Crown has identified Brisbane as ripe for a second casino, targeting Chinese high-rollers.