Australian casino giant Crown Resorts booked an AU$199 million (US$125 million) loss in the 12 months to 30 June 2023, burdened by a whopping AU$3 billion (US$1.9 billion) in expenses emanating from high-profile inquiries into its operations in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
The company’s financial position was laid bare in documents filed with financial regulator ASIC on Wednesday, with the hefty expense bill largely made up of fines and the cost of implementing new compliance measures at it looks to win back its casino licenses. This includes an AU$450 million (US$283 million) settlement with Australia’s anti-money laundering watchdog AUSTRAC, for which a provision was made in Crown’s financial results.
But it wasn’t all bad news, with the FY23 loss narrowing a loss of AU$945.4 million (US$596 million) recorded a year earlier thanks to rising revenues across all three properties. Group-wide revenue climbed by 44% year-on-year to AU$2.7 billion (US$1.7 billion), including AU$1.4 billion (US$882 million) from Crown Melbourne – up from AU$939 million (US$592 million) in FY22.
Crown Perth booked a 16% year-on-year increase in revenue to AU$854 million (US$538 million) while sales at Crown Sydney reached AU$271 million (US$171 million), up by 139%.
In filing its report, Crown noted that it “continued to face challenges in relation to regulatory matters [in 2023], with independent monitors at each of the Australian properties overseeing the gaming operations.”
A Crown spokesperson said separately that the company “has made considerable progress on its remediation and transformation plan, which has resulted in a significant uplift to the operations and culture of the business.”
Aside from its extensive remediation measures, which have included considerable investment into expanding its compliance and responsible gaming teams as well as implementing new technology around cashless gaming and mandatory carded play – as required under new regulations – Crown has been looking to reimagine its offering.
Despite closing one of its two gaming floors at Crown Sydney in August due to slow business recovery, it has also launched a new rolling chip program at Crown Sydney and Crown Melbourne for both local and international players.
The Blackstone Group, which purchased Crown in an AU$8.9 billion (US$6.5 billion) deal last year, has also vowed to spend “hundreds of millions of dollars” to revamp the Melbourne property.
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