One of Australia’s leading experts on gambling culture has weighed in on Crown Sydney’s latest licence update, warning it is still too late to trust the gambling giant despite its promise it is now the “safest place to gamble” in NSW.
After damning allegations of money laundering, links to organised crime and poor governance practices were exposed, Crown Sydney was deemed “unfit” to hold its casino licence and had it ripped away by the state watchdog in 2020.
The move crippled the gaming group’s ability to run its $2.2bn Barangaroo casino as executives scrambled to comply with proposed regulations from the damning 18-month inquiry.
Crown Sydney was given the green light to keep its licence earlier this week after a lengthy deliberation by the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) on whether it would be refused, or retained.
But while the Blackstone-owned gambling giant has been cleared to run the Barangaroo casino, the NICC has stressed it’s Crown responsibility to demonstrate its suitability going forward.
Associate Professor Charles Livingstone, one of Australia’s foremost researchers into gambling culture, says Crown is not deserving of the “second chance” now that it has cast off its regulatory shackles.
Speaking to NCA NewsWire, he said the business’s culture change was unconvincing and risked falling back into patterns followed by large-scale casinos all over the world; relying on money laundering and the exploitation of vulnerable people.
“The people running the business are interested in maximising profits and I suspect that once the regulatory gaze is diverted it will be back to business as usual,” said Professor Livingstone, who is the head of Monash University’s Gambling and Social Determinants Unit.
“This, after all, has been the pattern in gambling regulation for at least the last 20 years.”
Carded play, which allows patrons to set time and loss limits for gaming, is in place at Crown Sydney and will be rolled out at rival Sydney casino The Star from August.
Crown Sydney chief executive Mark McWhinnie has stressed the venue is now the “safest place to gamble” in NSW after major structural overhauls.
But Professor Livingstone said it was only as safe as “any other gambling venue – which is to say fairly dangerous”.
He said measures like carded play could reduce the risk of money laundering but it needed the right oversight by the business and the regulator.
“These reforms are vulnerable to the extent to which the regulator has the resources and wherewithal to maintain the gaze,” he explained.
“The temptation will be to drift towards self-regulation to minimise regulatory costs and maintain good relations.”
Despite the sweeping changes put in place, Prof Livingstone dismissed suggestions Crown deserved a second chance.
“My reasoning is that the harm caused by Crown to the people who frequented its venues and were encouraged to do so and to spend well beyond their capacity remains unaddressed,” he said.
“The harm to the reputation of the regulatory authorities is substantial.
“No one who made decisions that led to Crown’s regulatory and legal breaches has been penalised.”
Crown Sydney was initially refused a gambling licence in 2021 – deemed “unfit” to do so over damning findings from an 18-month inquiry.
Following the 18-month inquiry, former Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin found that Crown was a “conduit” for money laundering, had “weak” controls to prevent money laundering and staff had “failed to properly identify and report suspicious transactions”.
Her 750-page report determined that Crown had close ties to organised crime, some of whom were “highrolling gamblers” known to be involved in money laundering and criminal activities who were granted access to the casino.
Ms Bergin also identified poor governance practices at the casino.
“The board of directors at Crown Casino had failed to properly oversee the management of the casino, and that there were significant conflicts of interest among its directors,” the report stated.
A provisional licence was granted to Crown Sydney in 2022.
In response to the inquiry’s findings, the gaming giant implemented sweeping reforms – effectively rebuilding its gaming model “from the ground up”.
Some of it’s 432 remediation activities to the NICC included major structural overhauls to the company and corporate culture.
Crown Sydney pumped $200m into harm minimisation, financial crime, governance and compliance measures.
Earlier in the week, NICC chief commissioner Philip Crawford announced that Crown Sydney would keep its licence, calling it a “changed business”.
“The NICC is confident the Crown we deemed suitable today has a strong model to keep operating into the future,” Mr Crawford said.
“Hard work and transformation aside, the NICC has not forgotten the level of misconduct exposed in 2021 when Crown was found unsuitable.”
Mr Crawford said Crown Sydney had ongoing work to do, reiterating It must “continue to lift standards” and maintain its cultural transformation.
Senior figures at Crown have welcomed the move, reiterating they are committed to operating at the “highest industry standards”.
“We must continue to build and maintain trust and respect while showing that success and commercial viability go hand-in-hand with trust, care and integrity,” Crown Resorts chief executive Ciaran Carruthers said.