The Sydney Barangaroo waterfront casino of Crown Resorts is expected to bring an extra tax revenue of about AU$100 million to the Government of New South Wales (NSW) over its first year of operation.
According to some market experts, the gambling floors of the Sydney casino resort would not be able to deliver as much as promised for the state’s economy, considering the elimination of the high-roller market unless a major change in its operating permit is made.
As Casino Guardian reported, last week, the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) officially allowed Crown Resorts to open its Sydney casino. Almost two years ago, the regulatory body found the Australian gambling giant unsuitable to hold a casino operating licence for the venue, following a probe into its operations found that it was favouring money laundering and criminal infiltration in its casinos in other Australian states and territories.
Despite the difficulties on its way, Crown Resorts finally received official approval by the NSW competent watchdog, allowing it to open its AU$2.2-billion Barangaroo casino on Sydney Harbour, after being able to only open the hotel and restaurant part of the venue in 2020. The permission comes as part of a provisional gambling licence, which in its turn, came right on time for the completion of the takeover deal between Blackstone and Crown Resorts on June 24th.
Chinese Government Restrictions and Pokie Machine Ban Would Make Things Harder for Crown Sydney
The new owner of Crown Resorts – the US private equity giant Blackstone – is yet expected to announce an official opening date for the Sydney casino.
As for the monetary contribution of the new casino venue, some projections published in the NSW Treasury budget papers state that the state’s Government will get an overall casino tax revenue of AU$231 million over the next financial year. The projections for this revenue stream also include the Star Casino in Sydney.
According to Charles Livingstone, a gambling researcher at Monash University, Crown Resorts would not be the one providing a major increase to tax coffers. Mr Livingstone believes that Crown Sydney would bring an additional AU$100 million to the local Government’s coffers at most. He further noted that the revenue that could be expected by Crown Sydney over the next fiscal year would amount to approximately AU$500 million based on some estimates that the Treasury had previously provided.
The Sydney casino of Crown Resorts will no longer be the international high-roller customer attraction that was initially promised at the time when it got the approval of the state’s then-premier Barry O’Farrell in 2013. Apart from the negative effects that the Covid-19 pandemic had on international travel, the Chinese Government has adopted a stricter-than-ever policy banning gambling in several jurisdictions. Although the country’s authorities have not made the destinations blacklist public, experts strongly believe Australia is one of them.
If this is true, Crown Resorts’ casino would have to attract other customers from overseas territories and from within the country. According to the Macau-based casino expert Ben Lee, the Australian gambling company can not operate a successful casino venue without so-called pokies that are currently banned under its current operating licence. For the time being, poker machines remain off-limits, but Mr Lee believes that the company would lobby the government in order to be allowed to start offering slot machines in its Barangaroo casino.
As confirmed by a spokesperson for the Australian gambling operator, Crown Resorts had agreed to comply with a number of requirements in order to see its Barangaroo casino operational. These requirements include the appointment of an independent body to monitor the casino operations; not engaging with junket operators; undertaking customer due diligence for guests and members, as well as due diligence on cash transactions exceeding a certain threshold.
- Author
Olivia Cole
