John has applied and been approved a licence to operate a casino in Melbourne, which later on he named it The Casino East. John has received 10-year licence from Victorian Government to operate the casino. He also received approval for Casino’s building for a long period of time (90 years).
John was instructed by the relevant Government agency to pay $180 million for the approved casino’s licence and $80 million as prepaid rent covering the first 10 years of casino’s rental. John has negotiated to pay $400,000 rental per year for the remaining 80 years of the lease.
With reference to relevant legislation and case law discuss whether casinos prepaid rent is considered a revenue expense or a capital expense.