The minister who controls the gambling venues in the state of New South Wales (NSW) has shared his confidence that taxpayers will not pay the bill for any compensation to Crown Resorts in case the state Government changes its opinion on the gambling operator’s licence for the Sydney’s Barangaroo casino.
At the beginning of the week, Victor Dominello, Customer Service Minister, faced a hearing regarding the estimates of the state’s parliament at which he was put under questioning regarding the compensation clause.
The Australian casino giant could potentially ask the NSW Government to pay off 10.5 times any revenue loss that has been generated as a result of regulators cancelling or changing the gambling operator’s licence for its Barangaroo-based casino. On Monday, Minister Dominello took into consideration a number of questions he had faced regarding the legal advice he had received to support his confidence. He highlighted some clauses under which the casino company would not be compensated in case it did not hold its operating gambling licence “in good faith”.
As reported by the AFR, according to Mr Dominello, such compensation clauses are within “cooee of being triggered”.
NSW Government Still Considering Their Decision on Casino Giant’s Barangaroo Licence
In February, the NSW inquiry headed by the former NSW Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin found that Crown Resorts was unsuitable to continue holding the operating licence for its new casino project in Barangaroo.
The inquiry found evidence that the Australian gambling giant had facilitated criminal and money laundering operations, turned a blind eye on the arrests of its China-based staff members and worked in collaboration with junket operators associated with organised crime. The probe that was held in the state of New South Wales has resulted in the establishment of royal commissions into Crown resorts in the states of Victoria and Western Australia, as well as in serious reshuffle in the gambling company’s Board of Directors.
As explained by Mr Dominello, the licence conditions were negotiated before he became the minister responsible for that. He further shared that the compensation figure would have been based on treasury advice and some evaluations of the market.
The NSW Minister said that damages were standard provision but failed to confirm or deny whether Sydney-based Star Casino had a similar clause in its operating licence. In addition, Mr Dominello explained that he was not allowed to reveal whether he had gotten legal advice regarding the compensation clause of Crown Resorts, sharing this could be a matter of confidentiality clauses he was not familiar with.
For the time being, the recommendations made by Commissioner Bergin’s inquiry report are still being taken into consideration by the government of New South Wales. The authorities are still expected to make a decision whether Crown Resorts will be allowed to keep its Barangaroo operating licence or not.
- Author
Olivia Cole
