April 2024
Crown Resorts finally gets the green light to run Sydney casino
The Blackstone-owned gaming giant had been subject to a string of restrictions after a NSW inquiry called into doubt its ability to properly run a casino.
- Zoe Samios
April 2022
- Opinion
- Gaming & wagering
Casino bosses need shock therapy on money laundering
Seeing the real-world results of drug trafficking in emergency departments and police cells is the only way executives will understand the importance of the rules.
- Tony Robinson
February 2022
Packer set to back Crown takeover
Crown Resorts board has recommended shareholders accept a $13.10-a-share binding offer from giant US private equity group Blackstone.
- Elouise Fowler and James Thomson
- Exclusive
- Gaming & wagering
Melco taken to court to pay costs for Bergin inquiry
NSW regulators are pursuing the Hong Kong-based casino group potentially for tens of millions of dollars over its role in the Bergin inquiry into Crown Resorts.
- Lucas Baird
January 2022
Blackstone’s $8.9bn Crown bid still faces regulatory hurdles
Blackstone must still pass key probity checks from state casino regulators before its $8.9 billion takeover offer for Crown Resorts can go ahead.
- Lucas Baird
October 2021
Bergin paused Sydney casino but Finkelstein saves Melbourne
Unlike the stalled Barangaroo venture, Victoria’s commissioner believed Crown’s Melbourne business must stay open due to its economic contribution to the state.
- Lucas Baird
September 2021
Australia’s top five power brokers in law for 2021
This year, for the first time, women occupied the nation’s two most senior positions in the law.
- Michael Pelly
Crown’s directors must be thoroughly sick of each other
While some of Crown’s board have been accused of insufficient regulatory scepticism or curiosity, none could be accused of not ... well, turning up.
- Myriam Robin
May 2021
The ties that bind Crown Resorts and suitor Blackstone
GRACosway’s Mark Rudder links Blackstone adviser Bondi Partners to Crown’s executive chair Helen Coonan.
- Myriam Robin
Crown faces overlapping royal commission hearings in WA and Vic
The WA hearings to probe the future of Crown’s casino licence in Perth will begin next week and are expected to run for three weeks, overlapping with an inquiry in Victoria.
- Elouise Fowler
April 2021
Crown fined $1m for junkets linked to organised crime
The Victorian gambling regulator has slapped a $1 million fine on Crown Resorts for partnering for eight years with high-roller “junket” operators linked to criminal Triad gangs.
- Elouise Fowler
Casino regulator who fished with Crown staff hires lawyer
Key witnesses lock in legal representation for WA royal commission into Crown.
- Brad Thompson
Oaktree offers Packer an exit, takes on Blackstone
The global investment giant has offered up to $3 billion, on behalf of another company, for James Packer’s 37 per cent stake in embattled Crown Resorts.
- Elouise Fowler
Crown is playing hard to get
The cold silence from Crown on Blackstone’s modified bid suggests it is not feeling the pressure to formally engage.
- Elouise Fowler
- Investigation
- Australia's China challenge
‘Golden ticket’ visa applicants used gambling wins, fake passports
Chinese migrants looking to enter Australia via the $5 million Significant Investor Visa program used ‘bogus documents and false claims’ in applications, documents show.
- Michael Roddan and Liam Walsh
Packer keeps controlling stake in Crown, with limits
James Packer can keep his 37 per cent stake in Crown Resorts, but he has given up most of his control over the company.
- Updated
- Elouise Fowler and Finbar O'Mallon
Crown royal commission could spark new gambling laws
The Crown Resorts royal commission in West Australia to determine the fate of the James Packer-backed casino giant’s suitability to hold a licence is a “grave matter”, according to the commissioner.
- Elouise Fowler
March 2021
Crown Resorts celebrates the triumphs of journalism
Nick McKenzie remarked in his speech that he never thought he’d be “at Crown Casino being celebrated for taking down Crown Casino”.
- Myriam Robin
Commission will probe money laundering
Ray Finkelstein said he suspected Crown Resorts of backsliding on its assurances to the Bergin inquiry in NSW and flagged a new area of inquiry on problem gambling and addiction.
- Elouise Fowler
- Analysis
- Crown royal commission
Finkelstein tears page from Hayne’s playbook
Royal commissioner Ray Finkelstein made it clear from the outset his inquiry would not be a repeat of NSW’s Bergin probe, and he will not tolerate delays.
- Patrick Durkin