Surrounded by mountains and with the beachside town of Yorkeys Knob less than a kilometre away, the farm is nearly impossible to distinguish from the neighbouring properties.

If Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung and his son Justin have their way, the property will soon be an $8 billion casino and resort that would trump anything currently in Las Vegas or Macau.

The proposal for Australia's biggest integrated resort on a 340-hectare site includes 7500 luxury hotel rooms, an aquarium, theatres, conference centres and a sporting precinct with an 18-hole golf course.

The first stage of the Aquis project could be finished in four years, although the first sod is still some way off from being turned.

Earlier this year, Aquis was granted its casino licence by the Newman government, subject to planning and environmental approvals, along with probity checks.

Aquis has already spent about $30 million on planning and consulting, Mr Fung said, and Fairfax Media understands the company will pay more than $40 million for the land.

Aquis says the project will create more than 7000 construction jobs and when complete, the resort will have 20,000 staff.

The concept of an entertainment mecca being plonked in the middle of the world heritage–listed Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest is something many are finding hard to grasp.

Critics have questioned the environmental and social impacts. Aquis will also be in business with Chinese-based "junket" tours – an industry many suspect still has links to organised crime groups in Asia.

But Mr Fung - who last week received clearance from the ACCC to acquire the nearby Reef Hotel and Casino in Cairns - is convinced Aquis will become an Australian landmark and attract up to a million visitors a year.

About three quarters of the visitors would be from overseas, with Aquis set to mainly target the growing Chinese VIP gaming market.

The typical customer would play between $300-$500 per hand on card games, with high rollers spending far more, according to the company.

The selling point for Aquis over other competing VIP casinos in Asia, Mr Fung says, is the beauty of the Barrier Reef and the Daintree.

"I see our customer base being as far as the west coast of America and even the Middle East. Any place that an airplane can fly nonstop, that is our customer base," he said.

"The hardware - as I would put it - of the Cairns area with the two world heritage areas is not going to change. The predominant Asian customer base is not going to change."

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning supports the project, along with local and state tourism groups who believe Aquis will put the city on the world map.

Others aren't so convinced. While Aquis-commissioned polls show support in Cairns for the project is about 70 per cent, a small local protest group has been established.

The resort site is also located in a flood plain.

"That floodplain is about two metres above sea level so therefore it's exceptionally prone to flooding from the Barron River," says Professor Jon Nott from James Cook University's Earth and Environmental Science department.

"It's exceptionally prone to storm surges from tropical cyclones, so it can be flooded from both directions," he said.

However Aquis's engineering consultant Pat Flanagan said the risks could be mitigated in the design process, making Aquis less flood-prone than the Cairns CBD.

Social workers have also raised concerns about the impact Aquis's proposed 1500 poker machines will have, with Cairns residents already spending between $6 million and $9 million each month on the pokies.

The Aquis model will require the Fungs to adopt a similar strategy used by Macau's casinos, which source a percentage of VIP players through independently-run junket tours. The deals often involve players being put up in the casino's luxury hotel suites for free.

Existing Australian casinos also use junkets to attract high rollers, although VIPs only make up a small percentage of their players.

The junkets extend huge lines of credit and take a commission from the casino and the players themselves.

However the collection of gambling debts in China is not permitted. It led to junkets earning a reputation for using violence and extortion to get their money back.

Justin Fung, who is running Aquis's Australian operations, said the junket industry is changing and becoming more professional.

He said Aquis would take "every step necessary" to comply with Australian laws.

"We definitely don't want to be involved in any illegal-type operation or businesses and individuals involved in illegal activities," he said.

Disclosure: The reporter was a guest of Aquis in Cairns and Macau.