Crown Resorts wins NSW licence in blow to struggling Star Sydney

Crown Resorts has been deemed suitable by the NSW regulator to hold its Barangaroo casino licence, three years after it was disgraced by two royal commissions into its operations following extensive anti-money laundering and counterterrorism failings.

Chief Commissioner of the NSW Independent Casino Commission Philip Crawford said Crown had come a long way and would now have to demonstrate its long-term commitment to maintaining suitability.

Crown Resorts has been deemed suitable to hold its Barangaroo casino licence by the NSW regulator.

The licence restoration is a major blow to rival The Star Entertainment Group, which may be forced to close its operations in three months’ time if it does not convince Adam Bell, SC, it has reformed its culture in his inquiry into the casino operator’s business practices.

Crawford said the commission agreed on Tuesday that Crown Sydney was suitable to hold its casino licence and was now a “vastly different business” from the one examined by the Bergin inquiry, one of the royal commissions.

“It has also recognised the need to change its culture, to embrace concepts of sustainability and responsible gambling,” Crawford said.

“Hard work and transformation aside, the NICC has not forgotten the level of misconduct exposed in 2021 when Crown was found unsuitable,” he continued.

Crown Sydney has struggled to attract customers to its casino since it opened with strict restrictions in August 2022. It closed one of its two gaming floors one year into operations and made 275 people redundant last year, the bulk from its frontline gaming and casino support divisions. Its margins lean heavily on its luxury hotel and its many restaurants, which are nearly always full.

Crawford told this masthead last month that Crown had been more receptive to the need to reform its culture than The Star, which is currently in the midst of its second inquiry in NSW due to concerns about its remediation progress. Crown Resorts has spent more than $200 million on a remediation and compliance program across its three casinos over the past two years.

Crown Sydney chief executive Mark McWhinnie.

Crown regained suitability in Melbourne last month, with The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission finding it was “clearly satisfied” the company should keep its state casino licence and that it was in the public interest for it to do so.

Crown Barangaroo does not have poker machines and was designed by James Packer to attract high-end foreign gamblers. Packer was forced to sell down his majority shareholding in Crown following a royal commission and multiple state inquiries that found extensive anti-money laundering and counterterrorism failings at its Perth and Melbourne casinos.

The probes delayed the opening of Crown Barangaroo and followed a 2019 investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes, which revealed Crown had been infiltrated by international criminal syndicates and money launderers.

Crown was bought by private equity giant Blackstone for $8.9 billion in 2022 and has operated under an independent monitor, Kroll Australia, since it opened that year. Kroll will now be retired to allow Crown to operate independently.

More to come.

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