Australian casino operator Crown Resorts has denied any deal to partner with a China-backed group on a Queensland casino project.

On Thursday, The Australian quoted a Crown spokesperson saying the company “has no agreement” with either ASF Group or ASF Consortium, a China-backed developer that hopes to build a A$3b integrated resort casino on the Gold Coast’s Southport Spit.

One year ago, local media reported that Crown was negotiating a deal with ASF Group/Consortium to run the gaming operations at the proposed Queensland casino project. But Crown now says these talks were only preliminary and no partnership exists between Crown and ASF, which is led by the Chinese government-owned China State Construction Engineering development firm.

This casts doubt on claims by ASF that its membership includes a “Tier 1 casino operator.” While the company has never publicly confirmed the identity of this casino operator, The Australian reported that it has had communications with ASF in which the group identified Crown as its gaming partner.