“Crown will work with the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) in relation to the findings and recommendations of the inquiry report as contemplated by the regulatory agreements between Crown, ILGA and the state of New South Wales,” the company said in a statement. The company said it was “currently considering the inquiry report”. “It is not appropriate for the Authority to comment on any of the report’s findings or content until this process is completed.”Ĭrown shares were placed in a trading halt on Tuesday morning. ![]() “It will take time for the Authority to give it proper consideration before determining the most appropriate course of action,” the ILGA chair, Philip Crawford, said. The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, which has the formal say over the fate of the licence, said it would consider the report at a special board meeting on Friday and at its regular monthly meeting on 17 February. They are very clear and present problems,” she said. Turning to the fate of Crown staff arrested in China for promoting gambling, she said that between 20 “Crown disregarded the welfare of its China-based staff, putting them at risk of detention by pursuing an aggressive sales policy and failing to escalate risks through the appropriate corporate risk management structures”.Īnd on junkets, she said that “in the period 2012 to 2020 Crown entered into and/or continued commercial relationships with junket operators who had links to Triads and other organised crime groups”. She said the “stark realities” were that between 20 “Crown facilitated money laundering” through bank accounts held by two subsidiaries, “unchecked and unchanged in the face of warnings from its bankers”. There is also no doubt that some, but certainly not others, had their confidence dented by this exposure,” she said. “There is no doubt that some of the evidence in which the very serious problems were exposed came as a great surprise to the Crown directors. She also pointed to the culture of Crown. She said Harold Mitchell may also need to leave depending on the outcome of his appeal relating to his behaviour as a director at Tennis Australia.īergin also suggested Crown be required to provide the authority with a detailed written remediation action plan and undertakings in respect of matters including governance, independent review, accountability and any other relevant matters that the Authority may require of it. The inquiry heard evidence that despite stepping down as chairman and a director, Packer continued to play a key role in Crown and received regular briefings from management.īergin has canvassed the idea of shareholding caps for casino operators in her broader report on future casino regulation.Ī spokesperson for Packer’s investment vehicle, Consolidated Press Holdings, said the company was still considering the report.īergin in her report said: “It is suggested that in the circumstances of the findings against Mr Barton, Mr Johnston and Mr Demetriou, the authority would be justified in entertaining very serious doubts that Crown could be converted into a suitable person under the Casino Control Act whilst they remain as directors.” “The Authority would need to be assured and be confident that there are no further arrangements that would facilitate a return to what was clearly a dysfunctional environment,” she said, referring to Packer’s informal control of Crown. ![]() She has stopped short of recommending that Packer should divest himself of his shareholding but recommended that new controls were needed to prevent him exercising control. ![]() She said Packer was “deeply flawed” as a casino associate because he either forgot or did not turn his mind to an undertaking Crown made to NSW authorities to exclude the late Hong Kong gambling magnate, Stanley Ho, from the company’s new casino at Barangaroo in Sydney.īut she left consideration of whether he was an appropriate person to be involved with the casino to the ILGA, which she said could also consider threats he made to a businessman in 2015.īergin said ways Crown could make itself suitable to hold a licence include a major overhaul of the board, and a set of binding undertakings from Crown to reform its business and implement enhanced controls to prevent money laundering at its casinos. ![]() Bergin also said the NSW gaming regulator would be justified in not having confidence in Crown chief executive Ken Barton and non-executive director Andrew Demetriou.
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