The gambling regulatory body of New South Wales (NSW) said it will make a decision whether the new Sydney casino of Crown Resorts will restore its operating licence after it sees a report from an independent monitoring body.
However, the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) said that the gambling company is making significant progress when it comes to addressing the serious concerns that the report of Commissioner Patricia Bergin raised. As Casino Guardian reported, a few months ago Crown Resorts was earmarked as unsuitable to hold its gambling licence following an inquiry, which found a large number of poor governance issues, as well as issues associated with money laundering and links to criminal organisations.
Now, the NSW gambling regulator said that the Barangaroo casino of Crown Resorts could welcome customers in a few months, as the company has shown willingness for a major transformation. As explained by the ILGA’s chair, the Australian gambling giant has had a change of heart since the unfavourable report against that got published in February.
Chairman Philip Crawford said that he had been pleasantly surprised by the changes, so the regulatory body decided to extend the liquor licence of the new entertainment venue to the end of October. According to Mr Crawford, if Crown Resorts continues to demonstrate such progress, the opening of the gaming rooms at its Barangaroo casino could happen even before that.
Crown Resorts Follows New Commitments Made to NSW Gambling Regulatory Body
In order to show its willingness for a change and as part of its efforts to see its AU$2.20-billion Sydney casino finally operational, Crown Resorts has made new commitments with the NSW gambling regulator.
The commitments include plans to pay a portion of the costs made for the inquiry held by Commissioner Bergin, cut all ties with international junket operators, pay a casino supervision levy and adopt a cashless gaming model. The gambling operator also agreed to phase out indoor smoking as part of its new commitments to the ILGA.
According to the chair of the regulatory body, Crown Resorts could satisfy the ILGA by the end of 2021, with several audits also pending for the result. Mr Crawford explained that he could not project how long the audits would take but they could be through by the end of the third quarter of the year.
An audit is being carried out of the gambling company’s bank accounts, as one of the most important tasks for the regulatory body is to make sure they have not been infiltrated by organised crime. According to the inquiry, two subsidiary bank accounts were operated by Crown Resorts as part of its VIP gaming operations that were found to have facilitated money laundering activities. As revealed by ILGA’s chair, that is a major issue for the gambling regulator when it comes to the operator’s suitability to hold a casino licence.
Mr Crawford shared that the ILGA is willing to wait for the results of an independent audit that is aimed at analysing three major aspects of the gambling operator, including its corporate governance, anti-money laundering measures and its culture.
- Author
Olivia Cole
