Australian casino firm Crown Resorts Ltd has been found “suitable” to retain its Sydney, New South Wales (NSW) casino licence, after nearly three years of work by the group to improve its overall business practices.
The New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC) gave the news in a Tuesday statement.
Crown Sydney (pictured) had in June 2022 been approved for a gaming licence on a “conditional” basis by New South Wales. The conditions included ongoing monitoring by regulators.
Crown Resorts was acquired by investment group Blackstone Inc in June 2022.
The monitoring requirements stemmed from prior events, including in February 2021, the pre-Blackstone Crown Resorts being found unsuitable to have a casino at the new Sydney complex at Barangaroo, following an inquiry into how the casino group ran its existing Australian business.
But on Tuesday, the NICC’s Chief Commissioner Philip Crawford said in a statement: “The NICC is confident the Crown [Resorts] we deemed suitable today has a strong model to keep operating into the future.”
Though he added: “Hard work and transformation aside, the NICC has not forgotten the level of misconduct exposed in 2021 when Crown was found unsuitable.”
Crown Resorts and Crown Sydney acknowledged the regulator’s Tuesday decision of suitability, and said that the Crown group had invested AUD200 million (US$129.1 million) in a “comprehensive transformation” of its business.
Crown Sydney CEO, Mark McWhinnie, was cited as saying in a Tuesday statement by Crown Resorts: “Since opening the Crown Sydney casino in August 2022, we have worked tirelessly to implement wholesale reform across our business, delivering 432 remediation activities to the NICC across key areas, including harm minimisation, financial crime, compliance, risk, and culture.”
Last month, it was announced that Crown Resorts could keep its licence to operate Crown Melbourne, its flagship Melbourne, Victoria, casino. The decision was said by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission to be in the public interest.
Crown Perth, in Western Australia, is still implementing its own remediation plan, with a report due to be submitted to that state’s regulator by the end of January 2025, Crown Resorts said in its Tuesday statement.
Last year, the casino operator agreed to pay a AUD450 million fine for breaking anti-money laundering laws.
