Crown Resorts retains Sydney casino license after conversion to corporate entity
Australian casino giant Crown Resorts has deemed it fit to retain its gaming license in New South Wales (NSW) following a corporate reorganization in recent years.
On Tuesday, NSW’s gaming regulator said Crown’s governance overhaul had brought the organization into compliance.
The discovery will allow the company to retain the gaming license for Crown Sydney, the A$2.2 billion (US$1.4 billion) integrated resort that opened in Barangaroo in late 2020.
The casino portion of the ultra-luxury resort began table gaming operations in August 2022.
The casino has no slots (commonly called pokies in Australia) as rival Star Entertainment maintains a national monopoly on the machines until 2041.
Crown officials explained that the company had invested more than AU$200 million to transform the casino company’s internal controls.
A NSW State Government inquiry in August 2019 raised questions about compliance.
Ahead of the opening of Crown Sydney, the NSW investigation has prompted state inquiries in Victoria and Western Australia, where Crown operates Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth respectively.
The board and key executive positions were almost unilaterally reshuffled after state investigators from NSW and Victoria concluded that Crown had done little to prevent casinos from being used by illegal gangs and 토토사이트 to launder money.
Black Stone for Rescue
Amid regulatory scrutiny and serious scrutiny, including Crown turning a blind eye when Triad and other unsavory figures backed the resort, U.S.-based private equity giant Blackstone saw an opportunity to buy.
Blackstone, which is bullish on the global gaming industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and has made a series of purchases on the Las Vegas Strip, made big money in 2022 when it acquired the Australian casino operator for AU$8.87 billion.
Blackstone has pledged to improve Crown’s governance and agreed to pay about A$680 million in federal and state fines for the company’s money laundering shortcomings.
However, Crown has retained each of its three casino licenses so far.
Crown Melbourne was deemed eligible by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission last month.
Crown Sydney received similar recognition from the NSW Independent Casinos Commission (NICC) this week.
NICC is confident that Crown has a strong model that can continue to operate in the future, as we have found fit today.
said NICC Chief Commissioner Philip Crawford.
But Crawford said the state commission would continue to monitor Crown Sydney closely.
Efforts and changes aside, the NICC has not forgotten the level of misconduct revealed when Crown was found to be inadequate.
Crown Sydney is committed to ongoing commitments and must continue to raise standards and maintain cultural transformation,” added Crawford.
Crown Sydney CEO Mark McWhinnie, who takes up the role in October 2022, said the casino was now the “safest place to gamble” in NSW. McWhinnie said the building has undergone “432 improvement activities” to enhance employee and customer safety and increase financial compliance.
Perth still uncertain
The fate of Crown Perth remains uncertain, with two of three state government investigations finding Crown Resorts’ corporate transformation was appropriate to retain the company’s Crown Melbourne and Crown Sydney licences.
Western Australian casinos are continuing to progress with improvement plans under the Perth Casino Royal Commission until February 2025.
Ciarán Carruthers, CEO of Crown Resorts, said: “We are very proud of the work our team has achieved in determining two of our three properties as suitable to retain their casino licenses and we remain focused on the improvements we are making in Perth. .”
Representative Lee took office in July 2022.