Final regulatory leash removed from Crown’s neck in Perth

The final regulatory leash has been removed from Crown’s neck in Australia after the WA government handed back the casino and resort giant autonomy over its operations.

Racing and Gaming Minister Paul Papalia also decided against further punitive action against Crown, saying he was comfortable the business had taken appropriate action to deal with the money laundering, counter-terrorism and problem-gambling issues that plunged it into crisis nationwide following investigations by Nine Newspapers.

Paul Papalia speaking on Tuesday.Credit: Hamish Hastie

“I have found that Crown is a suitable entity for operating a casino without conditions or penalties. And that finding was taken to the cabinet yesterday and endorsed by the cabinet,” he said.

Papalia’s decision means Crown Perth is free to operate without the intensive government oversight that had been in place since the royal commission report was finalised in 2022.

Papalia defended not using a financial penalty to punish Crown, now owned by private investment firm Blackstone following an $8.9 billion purchase in 2022.

“To say that there’s not been any impost on them is not correct...they have comprehensively changed their practices, they’ve had to implement new procedures, buy new equipment, apply new methods to ensure that they are complying with the recommendations,” he said.

Papalia also downplayed the activities at Crown Perth unearthed by the royal commission, saying “there was never any evidence of direct money laundering activity of the nature that you witnessed in Melbourne.”

“What there was, was potential for money laundering to have been enabled, and potential for counter-terrorism or terrorism finances to have been transacted,” he said.

Following Nine Newspapers’ reports the Victorian, New South Wales and WA governments conducted separate inquiries, finding the casino had allowed money laundering to take place.

The WA report found Crown Perth had facilitated money laundering, failed to investigate suspicions of money laundering, permitted junkets with links to criminals to operate at the casino and failed to minimise gambling-related harm caused by electronic gaming machines.

It also lashed the former Crown Perth board for failing in its oversight of the business.

It made 59 recommendations, of which 18 have still not been implemented, but Papalia said he was confident Crown would finalise the recommendations by the end of the year.

“There are things that require ... equipment training and implementation of things like the card at play for electronic gaming. You can’t just snap your fingers and make it happen,” he said.

An independent monitor, former senior WA Police officer Paul Steele, watched over Crown’s remediation actions for two years after the royal commission report was handed down.

It was his report in January and subsequent assessment by the Gaming and Wagering Commission that suggested Crown not be financially penalised.

Crown Perth independent chair John Van Der Wielen said Crown had been financially penalised nationally by financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC, which issued it a $450 million penalty in 2023 for facilitating money laundering.

He said the business was on the right path now.

“I’m very confident now, with a new independent board, completely new management team, and being owned by the world’s largest investor, Blackstone, we have the right moral compass in place,” he said.

Van Der Wielen also revealed the casino planned to introduce the mandated use of cards linked to players’ identities for transactions on electronic gaming machines by December 1.

The casino said the changes would help it combat money laundering and problem gambling.

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