The inquiries held into the largest gambling and casino groups in Australia have seen serious allegations emerge.
As Casino Guardian reported, the Bergin inquiry found that Casino Resorts has allowed money laundering to take place in its casinos, while at the same time partnering with junket operators with links to organised crime. On the other hand, another investigation found that Crown’s biggest competitor – the Star Entertainment Group – has disguised illegal debit and credit card payments of Chinese nationals as accommodation expenses and has sent false documents to its banks.
Despite these findings, however, no executive, board director, or even a regular staff member of both of these gambling giants has so far faced a criminal or civil sanction. According to some market experts, not only the regulators in the states of Victoria, New South Wales (NSW), and Western Australia, as well as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which serves as a federal corporate regulatory body, have not laid such charges so far, but they are also highly unlikely to do so in the future.
One of the most popular gambling researchers in Australia, Dr Charles Livingstone from Monash University, believes that the fact no individual had been held accountable for their participation in the two companies’ breaches of federal and state laws, gambling regulations, and in some cases, even international law, was extraordinary, especially considering the fact they had clearly been complicit in the operators’ illegal actions.
Corporate Regulator ASIC Still Investigating the Involvement of Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment Executives in Company Wrongdoings
As mentioned above, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed that an investigation into The Star Entertainment and its board members was given a start in March 2022.
The corporate regulatory body issued a statement, revealing that it had been closely following the inquiry that had been carried out into the gambling giant. ASIC also noted that it had taken into consideration the investigation’s findings and the evidence, as well as the company’s response to them. The corporate regulator, however, refused to comment on the matter any further because its investigation into The Star Entertainment was still ongoing.
Back in March 2022, Joe Longo, the watchdog’s chair, explained that dropping charges against 10 former directors and senior executives of Crown Resorts, who remained unnamed at the time, was the right thing to do. According to him, the evidence gathered during the probe, along with the age of the matter, and the fact that the directors seemed to be aware of the wrongdoings at the time, should have resulted in an “actionable case” against the directors.
Still, some casino associates have seen litigation linked to the companies’ wrongdoings. ASIC wanted to see Harold Mitchell, a director of Crown Resorts, suspended from the position of a company director after he faced accusations of violating his duties as a director of the gambling and casino giant. According to reports, Mr Mitchell was also involved in other offences under the provisions of the Corporations Act.
In 2021, Andrew Demetriou, a former Australian Football League boss and a Crown Resorts director, faced court action over the AU$145-million collapse of Acquire Learning, an education group, where he served as an executive chairman as part of the advisory board. Earlier this year, it was reported that Mr Demetriou would pay AU$360,000 as part of a settlement against him.
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Daniel Williams
