Hospitality Excellence Pty. Limited and Ors. v The State of NSW

The case of Hospitality Excellence Pty. Limited and others versus the State of New South Wales was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The plaintiffs, Hospitality Excellence and its directors, challenged the decision by the defendant, the State of New South Wales, to cancel their licence to operate a casino in Sydney. The crux of the dispute was whether the state's actions were lawful and whether the plaintiffs had been afforded due process in the cancellation of their licence.

The legal issues central to the case included the validity of the statutory framework governing casino licensing, the adequacy of the evidence presented to justify the cancellation of the licence, and the extent to which expert opinions could be relied upon in making such a decision. Specifically, the court had to determine if the evidence presented by the state was sufficient to substantiate the claims made against the plaintiffs and whether the expert opinions provided were based on factual assumptions that could be reasonably differentiated from mere conjecture.

In addressing these issues, the court found that the statutory provisions governing casino licensing were sound. However, the evidence provided by the state to justify the cancellation of the plaintiffs' licence was insufficient. The court emphasised that the state had failed to clearly differentiate between assumed facts and expert opinions. This oversight rendered the decision to cancel the licence unlawful. The court held that while expert opinions could be valuable, they must be firmly rooted in factual assumptions that can be substantiated independently. Consequently, the court ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, finding that the cancellation of their casino licence was not supported by adequate evidence and was thus unlawful.

The final orders of the court required the state to reinstate the casino licence of Hospitality Excellence and to compensate the plaintiffs for any losses incurred due to the unlawful cancellation. The court also mandated that any future decisions regarding the cancellation of a casino licence must be supported by clear, distinguishable factual evidence and properly substantiated expert opinions.