Crown Casino: James Packer’s 20 years from hell
James Packer has been served yet another hammer blow, as he tries so hard to get away from a world that has brought him nothing but misery.
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There is an old adage that money doesn’t make you happy, and in the case of one of Australia’s richest men you can begin to understand what it means.
Billionaire businessman and investor James Packer, 53, has this week topped off 20 years of misfortunes, public humiliations and scandals with a crushing blow.
A damning new report has served a brutal roadblock to his $2.2 billion Barangaroo Crown casino project in Sydney – which he saw as his golden ticket out of the corporate world that has brought him so much misery.
He had been looking for an escape route from his casino group Crown Resorts for years, so he can retreat into a more sheltered life – but every time it looks as if he’s about to break free, he is served another devastating blow.
In the latest slap-down to Mr Packer, who is Crown’s biggest shareholder, the NSW independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) said corporate “arrogance” was a driving factor in the company turning a blind eye to illegal money laundering within its Melbourne and Perth venues.
ILGA in its findings said the casino was not a suitable licensee holder for the imposing new tower in Sydney and its state gaming clearance should be revoked.
Mr Packer may now be forced to sell his 37 per cent stake in Crown down to below 10 per cent at whatever price he can get – with his only remaining alternative being a frantic makeover of his entire corporate entity to satisfy the state government and casino regulators.
It is a devastating setback for the third-generation tycoon who, despite having a net worth of $4.94 billion, has been beset by turmoil in both his private and professional life for the best part of 20 years.
PACKER’S 20 YEARS OF HELL
It all began in 2001 when his business venture One.Tel ended in spectacular fashion and wiped out his personal fortune, he fled to the United States in the midst of a complete breakdown.
The media spotlight was shining brightly on son of media magnate Kerry Packer due to the public collapse of the telecommunications company.
His friends were so worried about him, they feared he would take his own life.
“When One.Tel collapsed, I ran into James down at the Capital Golf Course. He was on his own. He was absolutely desolate. He said to me, ‘I feel like a general without an army’,” former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett told author Damon Kitney in a biography on Mr Packer.
“Those words have stuck with me. He got into an awful spot then. He was absolutely suicidal at times.”
SCIENTOLOGY AND TOM CRUISE
It was in the States that Mr Packer found a way to cope with his world falling down around him – Scientology – and he was brought into the church by none other than its poster boy and megastar Tom Cruise. The pair became good mates, but Mr Packer has since distanced himself from the church.
It was also in 2002 that his two-year marriage with glamour model Jodhi Meares broke down, sparking waves of headlines about their private lives in the nation’s gossip columns.
Mr Packer’s relationship with his father Kerry Packer – who was reportedly furious at his son’s business failure – also became strained that year.
Their relationship remained that way for many years until a call between them in 2005, in which the elder Packer told his heir apparent to carve out his own path in life. The elder Packer passed away later that year, aged 68.
In the years that followed, Mr Packer followed his dad’s advice and moved away from his family’s traditional media businesses to focus on creating a worldwide gambling empire.
However, disaster struck again with the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.
By 2009, he saw the value of his assets, including casinos, pay TV stations, ski resorts and financial service providers, halve in a year, from $6 billion to less than $3 billion.
On top of his financial woes, his private life never really left the spotlight. He has in more recent years opened up about his struggles with alcohol addiction, and revealed he was being bipolar disorder in 2015.
HOLLYWOOD SEX SCANDAL
In 2013, he found himself embroiled in a Hollywood sex scandal after texts he sent to former girlfriend, young British actor Charlotte Kirk, were leaked.
According to texts between the pair, they met in November 2012 when she was 20 and he was 45.
In September 2013, he texted Ms Kirk who was 21 at the time: “I have the opportunity of a lifetime for u. Come to (the Hotel) Bel air now. U will never be able to pay me.”
Mr Packer promised Kirk a meeting with “the most important man you can meet”. It was Warner Bros CEO Kevin Tsujihara.
Over the next few years, according to the hundreds of text messages obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Kirk and the Warner Bros chairman were allegedly involved in a sexual relationship in exchange for furthering the British actor’ career.
‘LIKE MAD DOGS’: PACKER’S FIST FIGHT
One of the most public lows of the tycoon’s rollercoaster ride, was his fist fight in broad daylight on a Bondi Beach footpath in 2014 with then Nine chief executive David Gyngell.
The former best mates were seen brawling on the street outside Mr Packer’s multimillion-dollar Bondi Beach pad in Sydney. Pictures show the men aggressively wrestling, before falling to the ground in a head lock.
A witness told The Australian “it was like two mad dogs at each other’s throats”.
Mr Cyngell was waiting outside the property for Mr Packer to arrive home from the airport and engaged in a heated phone conversation just moments before Mr Packer’s car arrived at the scene, with him repeatedly saying he was “going to punch him”.
The pair needed to be separated by what appeared to be Mr Packer’s bodyguards and they then retreated to their homes, with a doctor attending the home of Mr Packer.
At the time, the relationship between the childhood friends was said to have broken down after Mr Packer and his second wife Erica announced their separation six months earlier.
DISASTROUS RELATIONSHIP WITH MARIAH CAREY
Shortly after, in 2015, he embarked on a whirlwind relationship with pop star Mariah Carey before becoming engaged in January 2016.
Mr Packer popped the question in New York with a $10 million 35 carat Wilfredo Rosado-designed ring.
It was all downhill from there and the pair were plagued by damning news reports.
By September, headlines circulated they had a massive fight during a holiday in Mykonos, Greece, with Ms Carey’s representative telling People at the time, “Mariah and James had a fight in Greece, and have not seen each other since. The fight was not because of any cheating allegations or excessive spending by Mariah.”
By October, they had called off the engagement, and Ms Carey immediately moved on with US choreographer Bryan Tanaka.
It was reported at the time that the break-up was a result of Ms Carey’s extravagant spending and disagreements over her reality show Mariah’s World, but Mr Packer later said that the relationship had simply been a “mistake” on both sides.
“I was at a low point in my personal life. Documenting the negotiations with my sister was taking longer than expected,” Mr Packer told The Australian in 2017.
“She was kind, exciting and fun. Mariah is a woman of substance. But it was a mistake for her and a mistake for me.”
The billionaire paid the music icon somewhere between $A6-$13 million, the deal being settled in the last few months, TheBlast.com reported.
HAMMER BLOW TO Mr PACKER’S EMPIRE
It’s hasn’t just been Mr Packer’s personal life making headlines over the years, and the latest blow to his casino ambitions in Barangaroo may see him lose financially again.
ILGA in its findings said Crown was not a suitable licensee holder and its state gaming clearance should be revoked
Media reports in 2019 alleged Crown facilitated money laundering activities at its Melbourne and Perth casinos through Asian high-roller junkets, sparking questions over whether it was fit to hold the licence.
Crown’s serious corporate failures included the arrest of employees in China in 2016 “with numerous failures to escalate indicators of real risks to the staff”, the report said.
“Any applicant for a casino licence with the attributes of Crown’s stark realities of facilitating money laundering, exposing staff to the risk of detention in a foreign jurisdiction and pursuing commercial relationships with individuals with connections to triads and organised crime groups would not be confident of a positive outcome,” the report said.
The report states that Crown CEO, Ken Barton, and some of the board, should exit the company in order to make Crown suitable for the new tower project in Sydney – meaning it will probably need to make major changes to the board in the next few months.
It also suggested enforceable undertakings which might include timetables for Crown to improve money laundering controls and better train staff.
It is unclear what steps Mr Packer will take next, given he wants to leave the corporate world behind but risks making another major loss if he sells up.
One thing’s for sure, we haven’t heard the last of him just yet.
– With NCA NewsWire
Originally published as Crown Casino: James Packer’s 20 years from hell
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