Inquiry into Crown Casino on ice

The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority will place its investigations into Crown Casino into hibernation.

The NSW regulator will put its investigations into Crown Casino on hold

The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority will put its investigations into Crown Casino into hibernation, much like the rest of the Australian economy, amid the coronavirus pandemic due to health and safety concerns.

The NSW regulator last August outlined the establishment of the inquiry under into, among other things, the proposed sale of shares in Crown Resorts from James Packer’s CPH Crown Holdings to Lawrence Ho’s Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, a Hong Kong-based casino operator, through a subsidiary.

At stake in the probe is Crown Resorts’ ­fitness to hold its high-rollers ­casino licence at Sydney’s Barangaroo, which is due to open its doors next year.

Under the sale agreement struck last year between long-time business partners Mr Packer and Mr Ho, the Asian businessman’s Melco Resorts paid $880m for an initial 9.9 per cent stake in Crown, with the original plans to lift that to 19.9 per cent for another $880m.

However, the coronavirus pandemic and global sharemarket turmoil helped kill off the second tranche of the deal and later Crown’s casinos in Melbourne and Perth turned into ghost towns as state governments ratcheted up social distancing laws and forced the shutdown of licensed venues and pubs.

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In February Melco walked away from its plans to double its investment in Crown Casino, a transaction which is subject to the inquiry by the NSW gaming regulator, the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority, which had only recently kicked off its hearings.

But now that inquiry is on ice.

The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority announced the work of the casino inquiry will be deferred in the current context of the COVID-19 epidemic, until it is considered safe and practicable for all public aspects of the work to resume.

“This decision follows careful consideration of the current COVID-19 situation, commonwealth and state government advice and restrictions,’’ the authority said in a statement. “The inquiry and its public hearings will resume promptly as soon as circumstances allow. Any updates regarding this and future timings will be announced publicly once determined.

“Notification of this has been made to all entities authorised to appear at the inquiry.”

While the share sale agreement triggered the probe, the inquiry had also planned to examine the circumstances around the October 2016 arrests of more than a dozen staff in China.

The timeline for NSW’s inquiry into Crown had already been thrown into disarray in mid-March, with the round of hearings delayed amid concerns about potential spread of the coronavirus. It came as NSW courts rolled out an extraordinary direction that only lawyers, defendants and court staff be allowed to enter the court precinct — the first such ­directive in the country.

By the end of March casinos around the country, including Crown, were closing gaming floors and standing down staff. Crown Casino effectively closed its casinos in Melbourne and Perth, threatening the jobs of more than 12,000 staff, while The Star Entertainment Group stood down 90 per cent of its 9000 staff and slashed operating expenses to preserve cash as it waited for the health crisis to pass.