THE NEWS WRAP: Packer wins approval for second Sydney casino

Gaming mogul James Packer is one step closer to realising his goal of building a second casino in Sydney, with the NSW government announcing cabinet approval for his $1.5 billion resort proposal.

Under the agreement, Crown’s VIP-only casino at Barangaroo will be restricted to VIP gaming only, with no poker machines or low-limit bets on table games.

“This is about high-worth individuals engaging in gaming,” says NSW premier Barry O’Farrell.

“It’s estimated – and on the basis of Crown’s Victorian experience – that 5% of local gamers would use this facility, but these are people who would gamble between $300,000 and 400,000 a year – clearly beyond the means of most people.”

Warrnambool confident of a deal to protect Coon and Cracker Barrel

Warrnambool Cheese and Butter chief executive David Lord says he’s confident Lion will be able to strike a deal with Canadian food giant Saputo that will protect the viability of its entry-level brands.

Lion, a subsidiary of Japanese brewing giant Kirin, purchased 10% of WCB, which supplies its Coon and Cracker Barrel cheese brands, amid a three-way takeover battle for WCB involving Bega, Saputo and Murray Goulburn.

“From what Lion said their motivation to buy their stake was to get a seat at the table. Well they’ve done that,” Lord says.

“Now, I think it’s up to the parties to sit down and talk about how they move forward, in particular Lion and Saputo.”

Elders warns of yet another large loss

Rural services giant Elders is warning investors it expects to report a $510 million loss for the year to September, adding to the $303 million first-half loss it reported earlier this year.

The result would bring the company’s total losses in the five years since the start of the global financial crisis to $1.6 billion.

The string of bad results has seen the company’s market capitalisation collapse from $2.05 billion in 2007 to just $52 million yesterday.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.08% to 15773.61. The Aussie dollar is down to US93.64 cents.