Mr Barr said the proponents had been invited to pitch plans for a smaller-scale redevelopment of the casino.

The casino has not been happy with the government’s treatment of its redevelopment proposal since its bells and whistles announcement in 2015 of plans to spend $300 million transforming the Glebe Park precinct, including hotels, prestige brand shopping, and a new convention centre. It has taken three years for the government to finally reject the plan.

Ms Mellor’s statement to the stock exchange said the detailed business case had been lodged in June 2016. But “overall progress has been slow”. The government’s decisions, including restrictions on the way poker machines could operate in the casino and “a decision not to make available certain land to Casino Canberra”, had “meant it was difficult to progress Aquis’ original proposal”.

She did not specify what land she was referring to, but early on in the bid Mr Barr scotched the proposal to incorporate the convention centre in the new development. There has also been much speculation about a piece of land the government bought in Glebe Park from businessmen Barry Morris, Graham Potts, Richard Tindale and Joe Bisa, which has since been subject to a audit report that was highly critical of the negotiations. The auditor found the $3.8 million price tag was poorly justified.

Part of that land was to have been sold to the casino for its new footprint, although there has been confusion over the status of that plan. In late 2015 Mr Barr signed a briefing document which referred to “Aquis' rights to Block 24 Section 65".

But Mr Barr subsequently denied that Aquis had any rights to the block and suggested he might have been confused when he signed the briefing paper.

He told an inquiry late in 2017 that he was "not aware of any rights that the casino has to that block", and "there has been no decision of government to give the casino any rights".

Strict rules about the number of poker machines the casino was allowed and $2 spin limits also threatened to make the grand redevelopment unviable.

Laws the ACT Legislative Assembly passed last year would only allow the casino to operate 200 poker machines, as well as 60 fully-automated table games, limited punters to $2 spins and forced them to nominate how much they are prepared to lose in advance. The casino originally wanted 500 machines.

More recently Aquis and the government appear to have reached a stalemate.

Ms Mellor’s statement also drew attention to the government’s more recent demand for detailed financing information of the redevelopment plans. She said Aquis had been unable to provide the detail requested without the government telling Aquis what it would require in taxes, licence fees and legislation.

“Aquis continues to believe that the development of an integrated entertainment precinct in Canberra’s CBD offers Canberra and the ACT a once in a lifetime tourism infrastructure opportunity,” she told the stock exchange.

“Therefore, Aquis will continue to engage with the ACT government on development opportunities.”

Canberra Liberals' gaming spokesman Mark Parton said it was no surprise the poker machine laws had affected the redevelopment. Earlier in the year, Mr Parton said if he was a bookmaker he would be offering 10 to one against the casino redevelopment going ahead.

"The Labor-Greens Government wants to blame a lack of information from Aquis but in reality this is due to the Governments lack of consultation and communication with Aquis and those in the industry," Mr Parton said.

"ACT Labor and the Greens continue to hold their born to rule mentality and refuse to explain their policies, legislative amendments or regulations with not just Aquis but the entire community in just about every area of policy."

More to come