A Royal Commission has made a number of recommendations for future reforms to be brought to Crown Melbourne but experts have remained uncertain about their feasibility.
On one hand, experts believe that the Royal Commission’s proposal associated with the instalment of a special manager to monitor the operations of Crown Resorts’ casino in Melbourne would not be enough to make right years of misconduct, not to mention that the proposed changes would not be easy to implement.
Even though Ray Finkelstein’s recommendations aimed at tackling problem gambling have been welcomed, the plan has been welcomed by some governance and gaming experts, the suggestion for the appointment of QC Stephen O’Bryan to oversee the casino venue’s operations was favoured, rather than the one seeking to strip the Australian gambling giant of its licence to offer its services in the state. Furthermore, some analysts have pointed out that a 2012 deal, under which the Government of Victoria up to AU$200 in case the gambling operator’s licence was removed, must be ended before the recommendations of Finkelstein can be brought into effect.
In his report that was officially tabled in the Parliament of Victoria toward the end of October, Royal Commissioner Finkelstein found that a long-time legal principle that no one should be entitled to recover damages originating from their own wrongful conduct had been breached.
Crown Melbourne’s Operating Licence Not Suspended Despite Serious Transgressions
As Casino Guardian previously reported, the Royal Commissioner found that Crown Resorts was not fit to hold its casino operating licence in Melbourne. Finkelstein revealed that the Australian gambling giant had facilitated money laundering, underpaid the taxes it owed to the state government and failed to prevent players who found it hard to control themselves from gambling excessively at its premises. He also revealed that the so-called junket operators that were responsible for bringing affluent gamblers to the company’s Melbourne casino were also linked to criminal organisations.
In the state where everything started, the New South Wales (NSW), Crown Resorts will not be provided with a licence that would allow it to open its high-roller Barangaroo casino in Sydney until an expert specially appointed by the state gambling regulatory body is satisfied with the changes brought by the company to its policies. The Melbourne casino of the company, however, would be permitted to continue operating until Crown Resorts is bringing some reforms to its operations because shutting the venue while a new licence is issued would cause financial damage to the state of Victoria.
According to the gambling researcher and public health expert Charles Livingstone, the generally favourable outcome for the Melbourne casino operations of the Australian gambling giant showed that Crown Resorts was probably “too big to fail”. Mr Livingstone highlighted that if any smaller operator had been found to have made the same failures, they would probably lose whatever permits they had.
Royal Commissioner Finkelstein Proposes Problem Gambling Crackdown
Monash University’s public health expert and gambling researcher Charles Livingstone welcomed Finkelstein’s proposal of the implementation of stricter measures for gambling on poker machines. If such a crackdown is rolled out, the revenue generated by the main gaming floor of the casino could be reduced by as much as 20%.
According to Mr Livingstone, Crown Resorts already had the technology to bring changes in the use of pokies in its Melbourne casino, such as limiting the time gamblers are allowed to spend at an electronic gaming terminal, implementing mandatory breaks of gameplay, especially when customers enter lengthy gaming sessions, or eliminating cash in poker machines. He said that such changes are completely doable and would not even cost a lot of money to the operator, considering the fact Crown Resorts already had both the hardware and the software to implement such changes.
But the former minister for gambling in the Labor Government of John Brumby, Tony Robinson, explained that it would not be as easy as expected to get all the laws that would be necessary to make all the changes envisioned by Mr Finkelstein. He, however, praised the Royal Commissioner for doing a really great job, especially when it comes to tackling problem gambling, which has not been included in the NSW inquiry from February 2021.
Mr Robinson explained that he could not project whether the appointment of a special manager regime would work because such a move had never been done before. According to him, the appointment would slow down the final decision-making process.
Others, such as the governance expert Andrew Linden, believe that the Victorian Government could have done better with the resolution of the drama surrounding Crown Melbourne’s licence. He believes that the authorities could have suspended the operating permit of the venue and chosen a new gambling operator to hold the licence. Such a move would have been “cleaner” in his opinion and it would have sent the right message that no company, not even a large one such as Crown Resorts, is beyond the law.
Financial Compensation Promised to Crown Resorts in 2012 Violates Common Legal Principle, Commissioner Says
As mentioned above, under a 2012 management agreement between the Australian gambling giant and the state Government of Victoria, up to AU$200 million would be paid by the local authorities in case the casino operating licence of the company is removed or special conditions are imposed on the company.
Royal Commissioner Finkelstein shared an opinion that such an agreement was in breach of the long-time legal principle that no one should be provided with the chance to recover damages that occurred as a result of their own wrongful behaviour. He also shared that similar clauses also exist in agreements inked between the NSW Government and Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment Group.
According to Victor Dominello, the NSW minister for digital and customer service, the generous compensation provisions are not much likely to be upheld in court, especially considering the unfavourable report issued by NSW Royal Commissioner Bergin and the subsequent findings of the company’s breaches in Victoria. Under its agreement with the NSW Government, Crown Resorts could be repaid 10.5 times any financial loss in case the local authorities take action of law changes that affect the Australian gambling giant’s revenue. The compensation scheme for the casino company was unveiled in September 2020 following the initial announcement of the probe into Crown Resorts.
- Author
Olivia Cole
