Yesterday, a New South Wales (NSW) court ruled that casino giant Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd needs to hand over some legally-privileged documents regarding the sustainability of Crown Resorts’ gaming licence as a result of a regulatory probe faced in the Australian state. Now, the only legal way for Melco’s boss to keep that legally-privileged documents secret is to use his last option – an appeal in the High Court.
The casino operator has been trying to prevent the perspective of keeping the above-mentioned documents associated with its acquisition of a 9.9% stake in Crown Resorts away from public glare. However, after it lost an appeal from the NSW Government to the Supreme Court, the situation is going to get even more interesting.
Back in February 2020, a Supreme Court judge ruled in favour of Melco Resorts, saying that the company would not be forced to produce the legally-privileged documents to the state’s gambling regulator, the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, for its inquiry. However, not the appeal court decided that the inquiry had the same powers as an Australian Royal Commission, so these powers would be compelling for Melco to produce the required documents.
The appeal court held that the primary court judge made a mistake in concluding that the Royal Commission Act had not presented a power of authority, but that is not so.
The Probe in Crown’s Barangaroo Casino Licence Expected to Resume in Mid-March
As mentioned above, Melco Resorts and Entertainment has the right to appeal the Supreme Court’s ruling to the High Court of Australia. This is the only legal option that remains for the casino giant, which has not commented on the situation so far.
Currently, Crown Resorts operates one gaming complex in Melbourne, and one in Perth. A third one is being developed in Sydney. Last May, Melco Resorts, one of the largest gambling operators, revealed that it was to pay $1.2 billion to purchase a 19.99% stake in Crown Resorts. The purchase had to be made in two tranches but, due to the investigation and legal action against it, Melco Resorts said in February 2020 that it would no longer pursue the completion of the second tranche of the deal.
As Casino Guardian previously reported, a public inquiry into the deal was launched by the gambling regulatory body in the state of New South Wales. The regulator is also investigating an allegation that Crown Resorts violated the provisions of its Barangaroo casino licence. The inquiry was temporarily stopped towards the end of February because the NSW Court of Appeal was expected to announce its decision. At the time, the former judge who is heading the inquiry, Patricia Bergin, shared that the proceedings were expected to resume in mid-March.
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Olivia Cole
