Crown Melbourne set to keep casino licence
despite 'disgraceful' conduct
By business reporter Daniel Ziffer and state political reporter Richard Willingham
Posted 1h ago
1 hours ago
, updated 18m ago
Crown Resorts looks set to keep its Melbourne casino licence for now, despite a Victorian royal commission finding that its conduct was "disgraceful".
Key points:
Crown will keep its licence for now, but must prove that it has reformed itself or lose its licence in two years' time
Royal commissioner Ray Finkelstein described Crown's behaviour as "disgraceful"
The government will ban junket trips by overseas VIP gamblers and increase maximum penalties for breaching gaming laws
The final report by commissioner Ray Finkelstein recommended Crown Melbourne should be given a two-year grace period under the control of a "special manager" to correct an "alarming catalogue of wrongdoing".
The royal commission found evidence of links to criminal gangs and repeated breaches of money laundering laws and the casino's contract with the state.
That contract will not be ripped up despite Crown breaching the law — including hiding spurious state tax deductions from the regulator and dudding Victoria out of a potential $200 million in tax.
However, at the end of the grace period, the special manager will recommend to the regulator whether Crown should keep its Victorian casino licence.
The regulator will then have to decide whether it is "clearly satisfied" that Crown Melbourne has returned to suitability.
Mr Finkelstein warned that "this will be a tough test to satisfy".
Victorian Gaming Minister Melissa Horne said the default position would be that Crown would lose its licence unless it could demonstrate it had changed for the better.
"What we're doing is taking the recommendation and saying, at the end of those two years, the government will automatically assume that Crown's licence has been cancelled unless they demonstrate otherwise," she said.
