James Packer, the former Chairman and major shareholder of Crown Resorts, has accused Australian lawmakers of trying to bankrupt the casino industry – accusing former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews of reneging on a significant tax deal for Crown Melbourne and questioning how the Chief Commissioner of the NSW regulator, Philip Crawford, still has a job.
He has also expressed his gratitude to US private equity firm Blackstone for their AU$8.9 billion (US$6.5 billion) purchase of Crown in 2022, part of a wide-ranging interview published Sunday by Australian business news outlet Rampart. The video published with this article is only a snippet of the full interview.
“I think it’s outrageous what’s happening to the casinos in Australia. The pubs and the clubs are booming,” said Packer, who conducted the interview from his mega yacht moored off Fiji.
“Casino operators pay hundreds of millions of dollars to get their licences in the first place – to differentiate themselves from the clubs and the pubs. Now you have a situation where cash can’t be used in the casinos and cash is used in the pubs and the clubs.
“It’s as though they’re trying to bankrupt the businesses – and at the same time the pubs and the clubs are flourishing.
“I certainly wouldn’t be sitting on the boat with you here if I didn’t get out.”
Packer expressed bewilderment that Crawford, currently Chief Commissioner of the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) and previously Chairperson of the NICC’s predecessor, the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA), was still overseeing the regulator. Crawford headed ILGA in 2020 when the first of Australia’s casino inquiries, the Bergin inquiry, was launched into Crown Sydney’s suitability following damning media reports on Crown’s links to Asian organized crime syndicates.
Crown was ultimately found unsuitable to hold a casino license in NSW, and later in Victoria and Western Australia following further inquiries in each state, but has since won back all three licenses. Local rival Star Entertainment Group remains unsuitable in NSW and Queensland following a series of inquiries that began in 2022.
“It’s one of the miracles of life that Philip Crawford’s got a job,” Packer fired in the Rampart interview. “Star was operating under Philip Crawford’s watch. Because of the [Bergin inquiry] in NSW, all the regulators in Victoria lost their jobs and all the regulators in Western Australia lost their jobs.
“Star was behaving far worse than Crown ever behaved, and that’s been proven out by the fact that [the Australian Securities and Investments Commission] never laid any charges. Star’s got charges from ASIC up the wazoo. I’m not saying we didn’t make mistakes, but Star was worse than us and Star’s operating under Philip Crawford’s nose.”
Packer reserved his most bitter response, however, for Andrews – the former Victorian Premier who was in power when the Finkelstein Royal Commission into Crown Melbourne was held. He was also in charge when new laws requiring a series of transformative measures aimed at reducing money laundering and problem gambling risks were mandated, such as cash and time limits and mandatory carded play.
Specifically, Packer accused Andrews of reneging on a 2015 deal that was to see the tax rates on poker machines raised while those for junket operations were reduced. The deal included a provision that the government would pay 12 times the reduction in EBITDA profit as compensation should the agreed rates change.
Instead, the Finkelstein Royal Commission saw Crown deemed unsuitable and Packer ordered to sell his then 36.8% stake in the company if it were any chance of returning to suitability.
“Daniel Andrews is about my least favorite person in the world,” Packer said. “I think Daniel Andrews not only ruined Victoria, he almost ruined my life. With three weeks to go [before Blackstone completed its acquisition of Crown] … Daniel Andrews changes the tax rates on Crown and rips AU$50 million of EBITDA out of Crown and gives no compensation.
“It’s a miracle that Blackstone didn’t activate the material adverse change clause. I thought that was appalling behaviour.
“I couldn’t speak more lowly of Daniel Andrews. I think he’s human filth.”
Packer, who also spoke candidly of his excessive drinking in the years leading up to Crown’s woes due to rising debt and business pressures, accepted responsibility for the company’s initial reaction to place paid ads in major Australian newspapers criticising investigations into its behavior but also suggested he had been misled by then-Crown management.
“The management that was in Crown were management that had their positions because I’d put them there,” he explained. “At the end of the day, it’s my fault. On that particular instance, I suppose all I could say is I was given assurances, and those assurances ended up being incorrect.”
Ultimately, Packer expressed gratitude for Blackstone’s full acquisition of Crown in 2022, describing it and the 2016 sale of his stake in Melco-Crown in Macau among his better business deals.
“I reflect [and] I’m so grateful that Blackstone came along,” he said. “And … Blackstone are some of the smartest people in the world. I give myself about a five out of 10 in business, if I’m being honest, and, when my dad [legendary business mogul Kerry Packer] died, I expected that I was going to be an eight or a nine out of 10.
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“If I look at the things that I’ve done reasonably well, I’ve sold a few things well. I sold Channel Nine well and I sold ACP well [both media outlets]. I arguably sold three other things well.
“I arguably sold Consolidated Media Holdings, which was Foxtel and Fox Sports, well. I arguably sold Macau well and I arguably sold Crown well to Blackstone.”
Packer, who admitted to mental health issues during the inquiries into Crown, explained that he was feeling better than ever and had not touched alcohol for two years now.
“I’ve got a good psychologist and good psychiatrist and I’m working with them,” he said. “I think I’m one of the luckiest people in the world.”
