It was an astonishing pile of chips that brought a hush to the room at the Christmas Island casino.

''We had two players playing against each other and there was a $1 million bet on the table, which was pretty exciting,'' she said this week.

And then Ms Morris saw someone drop a cool million - the wealthy client lost.

With Jakarta less than an hour's flight from Christmas Island, the casino attracted high rollers from Indonesia and other Asian countries but went bust after the Asian financial crisis.

Ms Morris has risen from the tables to become general manager of the Canberra Casino.

''I started my casino career at the bottom rung in Adelaide and I moved to Canberra to work in the casino here when it opened at the convention centre,'' she said.

After that, she also worked in Cairns before returning to the national capital six years ago.

Federal cabinet papers released by the National Archives show ministers decided in 1987 to give the go-ahead for a casino to be built in Canberra.

The outgoing Fraser government had resisted the proposal but the Hawke Labor government was more enthusiastic.

Ms Morris liked working on the baccarat tables, with high betting limits that attract a wealthy Asian clientele.

''Female dealers make better dealers because they're got a little bit more flair about them, visually better dealers,'' she said. ''I'm left-handed and left-handed people make good dealers as well, you have to learn to be a bit ambidextrous, you have to do everything with both hands.

''Baccarat was one of the games I was better at than the others. It is what a lot of the high rollers, Chinese, Asians, like. It was exciting because you are working with high limits.''

Canberra Casino could benefit if, as widely expected, an Asian airline begins direct flights into Canberra International Airport in 2014.

''Gambling is a business and some Asians will fly in especially to gamble in the different venues, so it could be a benefit,'' Ms Morris said.

''We'd find it difficult to offer them what other casinos are offering because of the limitations on our business, a lot of the others have hotels as part of their complex.''

Canberra Casino pays about $3 million a year to the ACT government in tax and licence fees. The operator has campaigned unsuccessfully to have poker machines, which are available in clubs.

''When people come to a casino they know they're going to a gambling venue and that's the ideal place for poker machines,'' Ms Morris said. Along with many Canberra businesses, the casino experienced a downturn in 2013, partly due to the election date being set at the beginning of the year.

''We know the second half of the year is usually better than the first half, but in 2012 the second half dropped away and it hasn't really picked up since,'' Ms Morris said, ''2013 has been really, really tough and we've had to make some hard decisions and we'll be cutting back our hours.''

She said the length of the de facto election campaign was a factor in the downturn.

''I think everywhere people just put their money in their pockets,'' she said.

When the Hawke government approved the Canberra Casino, the cabinet submission contained a warning from the Australian Federal Police about the possible increase in crime. An ACT Policing spokesman said this week that police had not detected any increase in criminal activity specifically attributable to the casino.

Ms Morris said legislation had been introduced to help casinos manage their obligations and maintain a crime-free environment.

Running table games is labour intensive and the casino has about 200 full-time equivalent employees, including table staff and security personnel. ''Because casinos are such a regulated environment, there are manning levels you have to maintain to be able to continue functioning,'' she said.