Crown Resorts CEO Ciarán Carruthers to exit after leading transformation effort

Crown Resorts chief executive Ciarán Carruthers will leave the business at the end of the year after a two-and-a-half year stint.

Crown Resort CEO Ciaran Carruthers is leaving at the end of the year.

Crown Resorts chief executive Ciarán Carruthers will leave the business at the end of the year after a two-year stint that saw the casino operator regain favour with regulators and improve its financial performance.

Irish-born Mr Carruthers, who started his career as a dealer in a London casino, will be replaced by veteran gaming executive David Tsai, currently president and chief operating officer, as acting CEO from September 1.

Crown said Mr Carruthers had steered the business through a period of significant transformation and remediation, culminating in Crown Melbourne and Sydney being deemed suitable to retain their casino licences by their respective state regulators.

Mr Carruthers, who took the reins at the embattled casino group in September 2022, said it had been his privilege to lead Crown Resorts but “now is an appropriate time … to pursue other opportunities and interests.”

‘I am very pleased to hand over a stronger, compliant and transformed business to its next leader,” said Mr Carruthers. “There is more work to do, but I am very proud of what we have achieved as a team.”

Mr Tsai was previously chief executive of Crown Perth and has served in senior roles with MGM in the United States, including president of its flagship luxury property in Detroit.

In February, Mr Carruthers was cleared of impropriety following allegations he allowed patrons back into its Melbourne casino after security had removed them.

The investigation by independent external counsel, initiated by Crown Resorts’ board, found that no regulations or laws were breached by Mr Carruthers with respect to a whistleblower complaint filed last December.

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission conducted an independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr Carruthers and was satisfied that Crown’s handling of the matter was appropriate.

An international search for Mr Carruthers’ permanent replacement will be undertaken.

Crown Resorts chairman John Borghetti said it had been a privilege to work alongside Mr Carruthers during the critical period of transformation and remediation for the company.

“This resulted in Crown retaining its licence to operate in both Victoria and NSW, and Western Australia being well progressed,” said Mr Borghetti.

Crown Resorts CEO Ciaran Carruthers with door person Vincenzo Iaconis at Crown Casino in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Mr Carruthers has overseen Crown Resorts’ plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new hospitality attractions including bars and restaurants, and become less “casino-centric”.

He also has been credited with improving the company’s ­regulatory compliance and stabilising its financial performance after the pandemic. Crown Resorts announced earlier this year it will slash up to 1000 jobs after a sharp drop in tourists and gaming restrictions hit its key properties in Sydney and Melbourne.

Mr Carruthers told The Australian in June that while the company would always be proud of its casinos, it had lagged behind international trends in the gaming industry that stressed resort-style attractions over gambling.

“Any visitor to our properties in the last two or three months would have seen in Melbourne some significant changes already in terms of a number of new bars, while similarly in Perth we are well advanced with new bars and new restaurants,” said Mr Carruthers. “The investment potential is significant, but how we actually deploy that over the next couple of years is still being determined. But certainly it will be in the many hundreds of millions of dollars here in Melbourne and similarly in Perth.

“If you look at where Vegas has been for the last couple of decades, and even in places like Macau, the importance of non-gaming revenue has taken a much more central role.” Crown Resorts and competitor Star Entertainment have faced hefty fines and tougher oversight after being found to have facilitated money laundering and organised crime. Regulators in NSW and Victoria have ruled Crown will be allowed to keep both its Sydney and Melbourne casino licences. Star Entertainment still faces losing its Sydney casino licence.

Sydney is shaping up as a make or break market for both Star and Crown, and the battle may be more about attracting tourists than high-rollers. Crown Melbourne still makes the lion’s share of the company’s revenue, up almost 60 per cent last year at $1.5bn, including takings from its hotel, but Sydney’s Barangaroo’s revenue is climbing at a faster pace, rising 139 per cent to $271m.

Star Entertainment, which is awaiting a decision from the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) on licence suitability, will report its results this Friday.

Under Mr Carruthers, Crown has seen a 5 per cent increase in gaming revenue this year at Crown Melbourne despite reduced international tourist ­numbers.

He also oversaw the introduction of Crown’s PlaySafe program, which provides 24/7 onsite support to prevent problem gambling, as well as introducing commercial partnerships with big events including UFC and the recent Taylor Swift world tour.