Crown Resorts

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For pre-2007 company history, see Publishing & Broadcasting Limited.

Crown Resorts Limited
TypePublic
ASX: CWN
IndustryGaming, Tourism
PredecessorPublishing & Broadcasting Limited
Founded31 May 2007; 14 years ago (2007-05-31)[1]
HeadquartersSouthbank, Melbourne, Australia
Key people
Ziggy Switkowski (Chairman)[2]
Steve McCann (Chief Executive Officer)[3]
RevenueIncrease A$8.71 billion (2020-21) [4]
SubsidiariesCrown Melbourne Limited
Crown Perth Limited
Websitecrownresorts.com.au
Crown Melbourne serves as the global corporate headquarters

Crown Resorts Limited is Australia's largest gaming and entertainment group which had, in April 2018, a market capitalisation of just over A$8.7 billion.

Crown wholly owns and operates two of Australia's leading gambling and entertainment complexes, Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth.

History[]

The company was established in 2007 when Publishing & Broadcasting Limited (PBL) divested its gambling assets to Crown Limited. PBL was renamed Consolidated Media Holdings, retaining all of the remaining assets.[5]

In December 2007, Australian gambling company Crown Limited agreed to buy CCR for $1.75 billion.[6] The agreement was ended in March 2009, however, with Crown instead buying a 24.5 percent stake in the company for $370 million, and paying a $50 million termination fee.[6]

In 2008, Crown attempted to enter the Las Vegas gambling market by acquiring a 19.6 per cent stake in Fontainebleau Resorts for US$250 million, which resulted in a total loss the following year when other investors withdrew US$800 million financing, resulting in bankruptcy applications.[7] This was one of a succession of similar major losses in Gateway Casinos, Harrah's Entertainment and Station Casinos from which a total of $547.5 million was written off.[8]

In September 2013, the Sri Lankan government gave approval to Crown's then chairman and largest shareholder, James Packer, to invest in Crown Sri Lanka in the heart of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. The project was to be completed by 2015. However, when a new government took office, President Maithripala Sirisena canceled all three casino licenses awarded by the previous administration; including the Crown Resorts project.[9]

In August 2014 Betfair completed the sale of their 50% stake in Betfair Australia to venture partner Crown Resorts, one of Australia's largest gambling and entertainment groups.[10]

On 5 August 2014 Crown bought the site of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip for $280 million with the intent to build a new hotel beginning in 2015.[11]

In December 2014, James Packer signed a deal with Matthew Tripp, which gained Packer control over Tripp's online betting platform BetEasy.[12]

On 26 June 2015, Crown officially announced that the new $6 billion hotel, called Alon Las Vegas, was to be located on the former New Frontier site and to open in 2018.[13] Crown announced in December 2016 that it was halting the project and seeking to sell its investment.[14]

In 2016, ground broke on Crown Sydney and was scheduled to open in 2020, which was planned for sometime thereafter the 14 December.[15]

In February 2017, Barry Felstead replaced Rowen Craigie as CEO Crown Resorts Melbourne.

On 21 March 2018, James Packer resigned as an executive chairman of Crown Resorts.[16]

In May 2019, Packer agreed to sell 20% of Crown's shares, representing nearly half his personal stake in the company, to Melco Resorts & Entertainment, for A$1.76 billion (U.S. $1.22 billion). Melco is led by Lawrence Ho, Packer's former joint venture partner in Melco Crown Entertainment.[17] On 8 August 2019, the gaming regulator in the state of New South Wales (NSW), the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA), announced that it was conducting an inquiry into Melco's deal for Crown's shares[18] based on new information that Lawrence Ho was until 28 June 2019 a director of a company with which Crown was forbidden to associate.[19] The inquiry will also look into allegations made on a recent broadcast of Australia's 60 Minutes television program.

In December 2020, due to ongoing inquiry in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Crown Sydney was granted a temporary liquor licence and allowed to open its accommodation, dining and bar facilities - pending court findings expected at the beginning of February 2021; this licence was valid until 30 April 2021 and did not allow for the opening of any gaming floors and/or associated gambling activities in any capacity. Therefore a soft opening of several restaurants, and accommodation facilities resulted in the final days of 2020, with more opening in the new year.[20] In February 2021, Supreme Court Justice findings informed that Crown Limited were deemed "unsuitable" to operate in the state of NSW without significant cultural, operational and managerial change - but that the ILGA would ultimately have the final say;[21] the ILGA report (penned to the NSW Parliament) reinforced these findings, leaving Crown Sydney's gaming operations' debut stalled indefinitely whilst also turning the future of Crown in Australia somewhat of a gamble.[20][21][22] The relevant Member of Parliament for NSW stated their response would come after scrutiny of said report, whilst Crown Resorts Limited inferred mutual scrutiny with no mention of when a statement would be released to the public.[22]

Holdings[]

Former[]

Gallery[]

Philanthropy[]

The company's Crown Resorts Foundation makes grants to the arts, community welfare, education, health care and the environment. In July 2014 Crown's chairman and largest shareholder James Packer launched a new initiative, the National Philanthropic Fund, to which his family foundation, and the Crown foundation would each contribute $100 million over ten years to support community projects in Australia.[27]

Controversies[]

Illegal advertising[]

In April 2016, the company's joint venture with Matthew Tripp, CrownBet pleaded guilty to five counts of breaching laws by publishing illegal betting advertising that offered inducements for NSW residents to gamble.[28][29][30][31] According to NSW Department of Justice, CrownBet "sought to have the matters finalised without conviction in Downing Centre Local Court yesterday but Magistrate Joanne Keogh said convictions were necessary for general deterrence to others in the industry and to protect the vulnerable. CrownBet was convicted of the five offences and ordered to pay a total of $10,500 in fines and also ordered to pay Liquor & Gaming NSW legal costs of $10,000."[28][30]

60 Minutes 'Crown Unmasked'[]

In July 2019, Nine Network's investigative TV program 60 Minutes aired a report titled Crown Unmasked which made allegations that Crown had violated Chinese law by promoting its casinos to mainland gamblers.[32] The investigation, which was assisted by The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald newspapers (which became sister businesses of Nine Network after Nine Entertainment acquired Fairfax Media in 2018) and featured comments from former Crown employees, also questioned Crown's relationships with certain junket operators — the middlemen who help recruit VIP gamblers and act as credit agents to get around China's capital controls — that have been linked to Hong Kong's triads.[33] The investigation also revealed the existence of an arrangement with Australia's Department of Home Affairs to speed up processing of short-stay visa applications by Crown's VIP gamblers.[34] Crown denied the report's claims, publishing advertisements in local newspapers calling the investigation “a deceitful campaign” that relied on “unsubstantiated allegations, exaggerations, unsupported connections and outright falsehoods.”[35] Federal and state authorities, including the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, have opened probes into the allegations.[36]

Government inquiries[]

In February 2021 an inquiry by New South Wales deemed crown unfit to hold a gaming license. Meaning that gaming would not be allowed at Crown Sydney saying that Crown facilitated hundred of millions of dollars worth of Money Laundering in Crown Perth and Crown Melbourne. And that junket operators who brought high-rollers in were linked to organized crime. It also stated Crown used a $2 shell company Riverbank Investments Pty Ltd and another company called southbank for money laundering.[37] On February 22, 2021 it was also reported that Victoria would establish a Royal commission into Crown Melbourne.[38] Western Australia has also announced an inquiry into Crown and has banned Crown from using overseas junket operators in Crown Perth.[39][40]

References[]

  1. ^ Crown Resorts Limited Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine at ASIC National Names Index
  2. ^ Crown Resorts Board Changes Crown Resorts 26 August 2001
  3. ^ Senior Management Crown Resorts
  4. ^ "Crown Limited Annual Report 2015" (PDF). Crownresorts.com.au. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  5. ^ "PBL Scheme and Demerger Scheme – Market Update" (PDF). 30 November 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2007.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Stutz, Howard (13 March 2009). "Plan to buy Cannery Casino Resorts falls apart". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  7. ^ Carson, Vanda Packer's US casino gamble in $250m loss Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 2009
  8. ^ Tabakoff, Nick Why James Packer attracts so much publicity The Australian Business, 7 March 2009
  9. ^ "Sri Lanka's new government cancels new casino licenses". News.worldcasinodirectory.com. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  10. ^ "Betfair sells 50pc stake in Australian business". 13 August 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  11. ^ Business (5 August 2014). "James Packer snaps up Las Vegas site". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  12. ^ "James Packer to Work in Collaboration With Matthew Tripp". Casino News Daily.
  13. ^ "Vision for Alon Las Vegas, resort on former New Frontier site, is filed with county". Vegas Inc. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  14. ^ "Alon management exploring options after loss of backer". LasVegasSun.com. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  15. ^ Gorrey, Alexandra Smith, Megan (9 October 2020). "Crown to open Barangaroo casino before licence decision". The Age. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  16. ^ Williams, Perry (21 December 2015). "James Packer resigns as director of Crown Resorts". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  17. ^ Nainan, Nikhil; Master, Farah (30 May 2019). "Casino operator Melco to buy 20% of Crown Resorts from billionaire..." Reuters. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  18. ^ "NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority inquiry into Barangaroo restricted gaming facility licensee and its close associates". Liquor & Gaming Authority NSW. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  19. ^ Davies, Anne; Butler, Ben (8 August 2019). "Packer sold share of Crown Resorts to tycoon who was director of 'banned' company". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "Crown Sydney to commence first non-gaming operations on 28 December after regulator grants interim liquor license". IAG. 16 December 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b "Casino in $2.2b Sydney skyscraper may never open after Crown deemed unsuitable for licence". www.abc.net.au. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b "Crown Sydney gaming licence 'should be revoked'". NewsComAu. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. ^ "PBL announces split into separate listed gambling and media companies" (PDF). 8 May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2007.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b "Crown Confirms it is in Discussions To Develop an Integrated Resort in Sri Lanka" (PDF). Asx.com.au. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  26. ^ "James Packer Wins Casino Deal in Sri Lanka". The Australian. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  27. ^ "James Packer leaves $200 million on the table". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b "James Packer's Crownbet Fined For Illegal Ads". The Australian. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  29. ^ "CrownBet convicted of illegal advertising". Skynews.com.au. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b "Crownbet Convicted of Illegal Advertising". Justice.nsw.gov.au. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  31. ^ "CrownBet Cops To Illegal Come-Hither Inducements | Online Gambling News". CalvinAyre.com. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  32. ^ "Crown Unmasked". 60 Minutes. 28 July 2019. Nine Network.
  33. ^ Butler, Ben (1 August 2019). "Victorian government orders investigation into Crown casino crime allegations". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  34. ^ Harris, Rob; Crowe, David (29 July 2019). "Home Affairs had an agreement to fast-track visa applications for Crown". The Age. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  35. ^ Kaye, Byron (1 August 2019). "Crown Resorts takes out newspaper ads in attack on 'deceitful campaign' | Financial Post". Reuters. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  36. ^ McKenzie, Nick; Toscano, Nick; Tobin, Grace (31 July 2019). "Crime agency reveals a major investigation into organised crime at casinos". The Age. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  37. ^ "Hundreds of millions believed laundered through $2 shell company at Crown Perth". www.abc.net.au. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  38. ^ "Victoria to establish royal commission into Melbourne's Crown casino". the Guardian. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  39. ^ Reuters Staff (22 February 2021). "Third Australian state to hold powerful inquiry into Crown Resorts". Reuters. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  40. ^ "WA takes latest swipe at Crown". www.theaustralian.com.au. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.

External links[]

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