Blackstone-owned Crown Resorts will remove up to 1,000 jobs amid a decline in tourists and gaming restrictions impacting its Melbourne and Sydney operations.
“The challenges at Crown reflect greatly reduced foreign tourism, a sharp decline in local workers in the city centres, and restrictions on gaming play in Sydney and Melbourne,” said Crown Resorts CEO Ciaran Carruthers.
“We are committed to our regulatory obligations and ongoing transformation, including Crown PlaySafe, Melbourne and Sydney transformation plans and ongoing remediation in Perth.”
Crown’s website says that it has over 20,000 people working at its resorts, meaning the mass layoff will affect about 5 percent of its employees.
The move comes as state governments have become stricter on monitoring casinos due to money laundering concerns.
Crown Resorts Retains Sydney Licence
It was only last week that Crown Resorts announced that the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC) found its Sydney business suitable to retain its licence.
“We know holding a casino licence is a privilege and an obligation we take extremely seriously. We will continue to build trust with our communities and stay focused on our vision to become a beacon of excellence for integrated resorts,” Mr. Carruthers said.
“We remain committed to Crown’s ongoing cultural transformation, compliance, and ensuring that we are the safest gambling venue in Australia while providing a fun and entertaining environment for our guests.”
NSW Independent Casino Commission’s decision came after the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission said in March that Crown Melbourne is suitable to continue its operations.
“Despite the enormity of its findings, the Finkelstein Royal Commission recommended Crown be permitted to continue operating under stringent independent oversight conditions for two years, determining it had the will and capacity to transform itself to again become suitable, which would be to Victoria’s benefit,” VGCCC Chair Fran Thorn said.
Among the findings was that Crown continued a business relationship with a major casino junket operator until 2021 despite knowing the operator was allegedly connected to an organised crime group.
The investigation also found that Crown failed to appropriately monitor billions of dollars in transactions and report suspicious matters to law enforcement.
Moreover, there had been at least 75 suspicious incidents involving around $23 million in cash in a private gaming room which Crown Melbourne gave one casino junket operator exclusive access to from March 2016 to December 2018.
Crown Resorts was penalised $700 million for the breaches, of which $450 million was paid to Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).
Meanwhile, rival Star Entertainment, owner of Star Casino, is still under the mercy of NICC as to whether it should be allowed to keep its Sydney licence, also due to anti-money laundering and counterterrorism failures.
Star Entertainment has just appointed Anne Ward as chairman of the board, following David Foster’s resignation from the position.
