Crown Perth ‘unfit’ to hold licence but allowed to stay open

Hannah Wootton, Elouise Fowler and Michael Bennet

Updated Mar 24, 2022 – 5.52pm, first published at 12.20pm

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Crown Resorts has escaped having the licence for its Perth casino cancelled but the James Packer backed casino giant has been given two years to get its house in order under the supervision of an independent monitor, after the Perth Casino Royal Commission found that it was unfit to operate the business.

The royal commission’s final report, which was tabled in the Western Australian Parliament on Thursday, does not appear to trigger any of the clauses in the $8.9 billion Blackstone buyout deal that Crown’s board signed last month. The WA gambling and racing minister, Tony Buti, remarked the report was written with the deal in mind.

Hannah Wootton is a Rear Window columnist, based in Melbourne.

Elouise Fowler is a journalist for The Australian Financial Review based in the Melbourne office.

Michael Bennet is WA reporter for The Australian Financial Review based in Perth. He has worked as a journalist for more than a decade, including at The Australian where he was senior banking reporter and also covered economics, markets and deals.