Crown rolls dice on non-gaming bid

James Packer’s Crown Resorts has vowed to fight to be allowed to open restaurants and bars at Sydney’s Barangaroo casino as their licence to operate hangs in the balance.

James Packer during the construction of the Barangaroo casino in Sydney. Picture Rohan Kelly

James Packer’s Crown Resorts has vowed to fight to be allowed to open restaurants and bars at Sydney’s Barangaroo casino as their ability to retain a licence to operate the $2.2bn facility hangs in the balance.

On Wednesday, the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority decided that gaming areas at Barangaroo would not be allowed to open either in December or before the NSW regulator’s inquiry into the suitability of the company to operate reports next February.

NSW ILGA chair Phillip Crawford said the decision was made in light of “extremely concerning ongoing evidence” unearthed at the inquiry.

“The authority has found ongoing evidence before the Bergin inquiry to be extremely concerning, and that any gaming activity at the casino before the inquiry‘s findings are released in February 2021 and considered by the authority would pose unacceptable risks on the community against the public interest,” he said.

Mr Crawford also said Crown wasn’t “picking up the vibe” of the inquiry and should have volunteered not to open Barangaroo due to the serious corporate governance concerns raised at it.

The regulatory approvals necessary for Barangaroo to open have been moved to February’s ILGA meeting, despite Crown pushing for a graduated opening of the casino by initially restricting gaming to one floor.

In a statement to the ASX on Wednesday night, Crown Resorts acknowledged the regulator’s decision and said it would continue to explore the possibility of opening the non-gaming areas of Barangaroo. “Crown will continue to focus on opening the non-gaming operations at Crown Sydney, in consultation with ILGA, in the absence of the commencement of gaming operations,” it said.

The ILGA inquiry, headed by former NSW Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin, has previously been advised by counsel assisting the inquiry to find the company unsuitable due to “extensive risk management failures, corporate governance failures, cultural failures and ethical failures” detailed over months of ­proceedings. 

Counsel assisting specifically criticised the “deleterious” influence of major shareholder James Packer and the nominee directors who serve through Consolidated Press Holdings, the investment vehicle that holds Mr Packer’s 36.7 per cent stake in Crown.

It was submitted that Mr Packer influenced the creation of a profits-first culture and alternate risk reporting lines that led to the 2016 arrest of 19 staff in China for illegally promoting gambling, as well as money laundering occurring in casinos and through company bank accounts.

Mr Packer’s overall character was also questioned when it was revealed he had sent a ­series of unspecified threats to private equity figure Ben Gray in 2015 at a time Mr Packer was still a director of Crown and subject to corporate governance rules.

Mr Packer admitted to the inquiry in October that his behaviour was “disgraceful” and attributed it to his battle with bipolar disorder.

At hearings this week, Crown’s legal team argued that it was a changed company and should be able to retain Barangaroo.

On Tuesday the inquiry heard it would suspend dealings with all junkets — promoters who bring VIP players into Crown’s casinos — unless approved by all state gaming regulators in jurisdictions in which Crown operates as free from alleged links to criminal ­activity.

The company also reversed its position on whether money laundering might have occurred through company bank accounts by submitting export reports on the accounts in an 11pm email to the inquiry on Tuesday.

Ms Bergin criticised Crown for revealing previously unknown information about reviews of the accounts at the eleventh hour and suggested the move would influence her ultimate findings of suitability. “A lot of the problems exposed (in the inquiry) were in the past. This is a present problem. It is one that has the ramifications of the most serious kind,” she said.

The inquiry is due to report to the NSW government on February 1, 2021.