Crown Resorts casino in Perth poached WA gaming and wagering commission staff

The relationship between the WA casino regulator and Crown Perth was so tight that employees jumped between the two, a royal commission has heard.

The Crown complex near Perth, which poached employees from the regulator. Picture:Tony McDonough

The WA royal commission into Crown Resorts has heard more details about the cosy relationship between the state’s casino regulator and the James Packer-backed casino group, with a former employee revealing how staff bounced between the two organisations.

On Wednesday, Paul Hulme, former senior employee at both Crown Perth and the WA Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC) told the inquiry how he was poached from the regulator in 2007 by a Crown executive - who was also once in charge of regulating the casino.

The commission is examining the suitability of Crown to run the state’s only casino and the GWC’s effectiveness as a regulator.

Mr Hulme said former Crown Perth legal boss Michael Egan - whom he had worked under at the GWC’s precursor in the 1980s when the Perth Casino was established - offered him a job after receiving the permission of the regulator’s chair, Barry Sargeant.

“I got approached by an executive of that time at Crown, a fellow who was the former chief casino officer when I first worked at the department many years ago,” Mr Hulme said.

“He approached me saying he had spoken to the chairman of the Gaming and Wagering Commission before meeting me to ask whether he had any objections or concerns about approaching me to see if I‘d be willing to work for Crown.”

When asked how Mr Sargeant reacted to him taking a position at Crown, Mr Hulme said: “I think he understood, and he had a bit of a joke with me and said ‘oh, if you’re going to be paid the big bucks, I don’t blame you,’ or something like that.”

Mr Hulme went on to become Crown Perth’s manager of gaming and regulatory compliance, retiring in 2020 at which point Crown threw him a farewell shindig attended by around 150 people comprising both Crown and GWC staff.

He said there were no conflict of interest tests or a requirement to recuse himself from any regulatory matters when he joined Crown.

Instead, Mr Hulme responded to lines of inquiry he personally had sent to the casino while still at the GWC.

“There was one matter that had been going on for a number of years when I joined the department … that I wrote this rather long letter to Crown about, and when I arrived at Crown I investigated it and I responded to my letter,” he said.

Mr Hulme maintained friendships at the regulator. It was revealed earlier this year that he and fellow Crown Perth executive Claude Marais had a friendship with the state’s former chief casino officer Mick Connolly.

Mr Connolly stepped down from his position after the revelation, despite disclosing it to the WA Gaming and Wagering Commission as far back as 2015.

It was heard that the men became regular fishing partners and went skydiving together - but they also met on Valentine’s Day 2019 to devise a plan to seek regulatory changes that would improve the Perth casino’s revenue.

Mr Hulme said part of his role was getting submissions for regulatory changes approved by the regulator - but they often were not approved, giving the example of a bid by Crown to allow international gamblers bet over the phone through “an agent here in Crown Perth.”

He also told the commission that Crown failed to provide information to the GWC about the “Riverbank” accounts that a NSW Inquiry last year determined money laundering was likely to have occurred through, in violation of regulatory requirements.

“That’s often the case, that Crown would at times not adhere to procedures, rules, whatever, and it was a matter of establishing exactly what transpired to determine if it was deliberate,” he said.

The commission will continue on Thursday and will hear evidence from former Crown executive chairman John Alexander.