Crown casino mogul James Packer blasts ‘lying’ MP, claims tall poppy syndrome

BILLIONAIRE casino owner James Packer has come out swinging against allegations of poker machine tampering at Crown casino.

Casino tycoon James Packer. Picture: Getty Images

BILLIONAIRE casino owner James Packer has come out swinging against allegations of poker machine tampering at Melbourne’s Crown casino, describing the comments by independent MP Andrew Wilkie as a “lie”.

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Mr Packer, also invoked the tall poppy syndrome as a reason for the attack on his company and said he supported a ban on all political donations.

Speaking at the Crown Resorts annual meeting in Melbourne on Thursday, the increasingly reclusive Mr Packer was uncharacteristically vocal on several issues, including Mr Wilkie’s alleg­ations, the problems of gambling addiction, political donations and regulation.

“This is one of the things that frustrates me, maybe because we’re a bigger company or maybe because we’re more well known or maybe even because I’m more well known, Andrew Wilkie throws ­something into parliament which is a lie, which gets a lot of headlines,” Mr Packer told shareholders.

James Packer with Crown Resorts executive chairman John Alexander. Picture: AFP

iIndependent MP Andrew Wilkie. Picture: AAP

Crown chairman John Alexander had earlier described the allegations as “outrageous”, “deeply offensive” and that they had “smeared” Crown’s reputation.

Mr Packer also responded to questions about large political donations from his family and business interests. But he said the company policy was a limit of $100,000 per party.

“I wish it was a $0 limit because, you know, then people couldn’t ask,” Mr Packer said, adding, “I can’t control my mother”.

When asked if the company would introduce a zero political donation policy, Mr Packer said: “Yes, I think we should, I think we should.”

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