Nine lives? Crown thrown another lifeline despite scathing royal commission report

James Packer’s Crown Resorts has managed to hold on to its Victorian licence despite a scathing royal commission report that found it was unfit to run its flagship Melbourne casino due to a litany of “illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative” conduct. 

Commissioner Ray Finkelstein said the casino should “not be in control of its own destiny”, but stopped short of recommending Crown be stripped of its licence. Instead he recommended a special manager should oversee the casino for two years before the licence gets ripped up — something the Victorian gaming minister endorsed.

Finkelstein’s report was always going to be a doozy, but those hoping it would be a final blow to a company that seemed too big to fail will no doubt be disappointed.

The report essentially exposed the Victorian government’s biggest employer and political backer as committing a litany of legal and ethical breaches, many in full view of a regulator asleep at the wheel. 

“It is difficult to grade the seriousness of the misconduct,” Finkelstein said. “Some was so callous that it is hard to imagine it could be engaged in by such a well-known corporation whose Melbourne casino complex is visited by millions annually.”

Victorian Gaming Minister Melissa Horne said IBAC’s inaugural commissioner Stephen O’Bryan would take on the role, and be given full oversight of the casino’s operations. She refused to say whether the government trusted Crown despite years of evidence to the contrary. 

The Andrews government had resisted calls for an inquiry into Crown for years until its hand was forced by the New South Wales Bergin inquiry that found the group unfit to hold a casino licence in that state.

In July it was revealed a letter from the company to the government warned of the “catastrophic” consequences if Crown lost its licence, and that it was “not in the public interest for Crown to fail”.

It prompted a furious response from Finkelstein, who said it was intended to pressure the inquiry. “[It seems] to mean make sure that the commission doesn’t make a particular finding,” he said. 

As Crikey wrote at the time, the letter meant it would be difficult for Finkelstein to make a finding without the suspicion that the outcome had been engineered by Crown and the Andrews government.

The royal commission was expected to be a tamer inquiry than the NSW Bergin inquiry, focusing on problem gambling rather than money laundering and Chinese crime gangs. But that quickly proved wrong, with the target of inquiries the company’s very business model was to make money off problem gamblers.

Among the revelations was that Crown allowed a high-roller to continue gambling in its infamous Mahogany Room even after he racked up $100,000 in debt. The man had tried to “self-exclude” but kept being invited back.

Culture was also a key focus, with revelations staff were afraid to speak out for fear of being punished.

But possibly the most damaging evidence was how the Victorian government turned a blind eye to the problems, devising schemes to limit problem gambling that were “wildly unrealistic”. 

Will a “special manager” be enough to turn that around? It’s a question Premier Dan Andrews will have to answer.