The former Chairman of the New South Wales Regulatory Authority Chris Sidoti cautioned that Crown’s casino licenses may undergo further scrutiny if the members of the company’s staff, who were arrested in China last October, are convicted of an offence.
Sidoti, who assumed the position of a Chairman of the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority until January 2016, stated in an interview for local media that the conviction of Crown’s arrested employees would call for further enquiries to be made on behalf of the Australian regulatory body. The former NSW Chairman commented the actions of the Regulatory Authority, when reviewing a given casino’s license, may range from issuing a mere reprimand to revoking the license altogether.
At the present moment, Crown has obtained licenses to operate its casinos on the territory of Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, where its Barangaroo venue is scheduled to open doors in 2021. Sidoti took the opportunity to express his concerns about the lack of a thorough public enquiry when Crown received its Barangaroo license.
The former regulator commented there was no public tender process and no detailed enquiries were made prior to Crown receiving the license. Sidoti denounced the parliamentary scrutiny of the Barangaroo license as superficial and inadequate. He also expressed an opinion that the evidence used by the Chinese prosecutors were not entirely reliable.
The Barangaroo casino was originally intended to operate as a VIP venue that targets predominantly affluent high rollers, many of whom were expected to arrive from mainland China. These plans came to a halt, following the arrests of 18 Crown employees across China this past October. As many as 14 members of the Crown staff were locked up due to allegations in “gambling crimes”. As a matter of fact, Jason O’Connor, Chair of Crown’s international VIP programme and his colleagues Pan Dan and Jerry Xuan still remain under custody.
Currently, it is illegal to promote or aid gambling activities on the territory of mainland China. The October arrests took place in the midst the Chinese authorities’ massive anti-corruption raids to prevent money laundering and unlawful international money transfers.
The arrests resulted in a drop in Crown’s revenue as the group’s profits from VIP customers decreased by 47% at its Melbourne casino. The half-year financial results, published by the company in February 2017 also unveiled a 39% slump in Perth revenue. The company’s share price also plummeted, with $1.3 billion cut from its market capitalisation. Crown’s stocks dropped at a shocking rate of 14% per day.
John Alexander, Chief Executive of Crown, commented the company’s plans on opening the Barangaroo casino would not be affected by its withdrawal from the key Chinese market. The new gambling venue is to attract high rollers from the local Australian market, Alexander concluded.
- Author
Olivia Cole
