Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUL 2023年7月 亞博匯 130 Despite backlash over O’Farrell’s decision and questions over his links to Packer, the greater threat to Crown Sydney becoming a reality proved to be the NSW Bergin inquiry into Crown’s dealings with Asian junket operators at its flagship Melbourne casino. Launched in 2020 in response to a media exposé, the inquiry ultimately found Crown unsuitable to hold a casino license in NSW but provided recommended pathways through which the company could return to suitability. It also sparked two more separate inquiries into Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth which resulted in similar findings, with Crown’s remediation efforts ongoing to this day. The irony is that, while the NSW regulator ultimately gave Crown the green light to open its Sydney casino last year, the company itself looks very different to the one that oversaw Crown Sydney’s development, with almost the entire Crown Resorts board and dozens of senior executives having been shown the door as a result of serious compliance failings. Even James Packer himself is a distant memory, ultimately forced to sell off his entire stake as part of US private equity giant The Blackstone Group’s AU$8.9 billion (US$6.5 billion) takeover in June 2022. In IAG ’s 2013 cover story, we quoted supporters of the Crown Sydney development pointing out that, controversy aside, no one else had put their hand up to invest upwards of AU$2 billion to improve Sydney’s global tourism appeal. Patricia Forsythe, executive director of 10 YEARS AGO growth in Chinese tourism, the massive Asian high-roller market and Sydney’s natural attraction as a superior destination for high-end tourists and VIP players.” Then-NSW premier Barry O’Farrell said the decision to ultimately award Crown approval to develop Crown Sydney without having to go through a competitive tender process was “the opportunity to introduce competition into the market. Sydney was falling short of its potential share of the growing international gaming and tourism market and has underperformed compared with Melbourne,” home to Crown Melbourne. Crown Sydney