WA casino regulator on the hook for fishing trips with Crown legal staff
WA’s chief casino officer referred to his boat as the ‘Good Ship Compliance’ when organising fishing trips with Crown Perth’s legal staff.
Western Australia’s chief casino officer and his two fishing mates from Crown Perth’s legal and compliance team held a private meeting to discuss a proposal to further tilt gambling odds in the casino’s favour, the WA royal commission has heard.
Claude Marais, the general manager of legal and compliance at Crown Perth, was grilled on Thursday over the friendship that developed between him and Mick Connolly, who at the time was both the chief casino officer and the deputy director general of the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.
The commission heard how Mr Marais had devised a proposal in January 2019 to seek regulatory changes that would improve the Perth casino’s revenue.
He and the then-manager of gaming and regulatory compliance Paul Hulme then organised a meeting for Valentine’s Day 2019 with Mr Connolly to discuss the plan, which the state’s Gaming and Wagering Commission would need to approve.
The three men had been regular fishing partners, with the two Crown staff joining Mr Connolly on seven fishing trips after becoming friends during monthly meetings between Crown and the GWC.
After that Valentine’s Day meeting, Mr Marais emailed his superiors at Crown – Barry Felstead, Joshua Preston and Lonnie Bossi – to tell them that Mr Connolly appeared “receptive” to the proposed changes and was seeking additional information that would support a favourable recommendation.
“[Mr Connolly] is likely to recommend the Commission approve the Proposal. He is requiring the above information to better inform the Commission from the Minister that the benefits from the Proposal far outweigh any political, [responsible service of gambling] or other concerns,” Mr Marais wrote.
Counsel assisting Patrica Cahill SC said it must have occurred to Mr Marais that there could be a perception or possibility that Mr Connolly was favouring the recommendation because of his personal relationship with Mr Marais and Mr Hume.
“No, not at all. Never once entered my mind,” Mr Marais replied.
“I think the information that Mr Connolly was seeking was entirely appropriate and related to relevant considerations to the application.”
The efforts to amend the regulations came amid what Mr Marais said was a “pretty tough time” for the casino, amid falling revenues and a push by Crown director John Alexander to take action.
“There was the razor gang, and there was a clear direction to the whole business that mass job losses were coming if Crown could not improve its performance because performance was going down rapidly for a number of reasons,” he said.
The commission heard the details of multiple emails sent between Mr Connolly, Mr Marais and Mr Hume as the prepared their various fishing trips.
Mr Connolly referred to his boat as the ‘‘Good Ship Compliance’’ when organising the outings, with the trio engaging in what Ms Cahill described as “blokey” exchanges over email.
A visibly embarrassed Mr Marais said the “informal banter” linked to the fishing trips was always kept separate from the trio’s work interactions.
“I accept, looking back, and particularly given the personal nightmare that I’ve now gone through and am still suffering, that the behaviour may have been somewhat unfitting,” he said.
He said he and Mr Hulme had made a conscious decision to never discuss work while on their fishing trips with Mr Connolly.
Crown Perth’s chief legal officer at the time, Joshua Preston, also joined the group for a half-day fishing trip but Mr Marais said Mr Preston later decided it would not be appropriate to join the trips given his senior position.
Mr Marais eventually went on to buy a boat off Mr Connolly.
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