West Australia’s royal commission into the suitability of scandal-plagued Crown Resorts to hold a gambling licence in the state will include a deep investigation of the state’s regulator, making it wider-reaching than Victoria’s royal commission into the embattled casino giant.

Former WA supreme court judge Neville Owen will chair the inquiry, which will investigate whether Crown Resorts has broken the law by enabling money laundering through its casinos, partnering with junket operators connected to Asian triad gangs and failing to protect staff arrested in China.