Crown set to keep its licence despite ‘disgraceful’ conduct

JAMES Packer will be forced to sell down a $2.4bn stake in Crown Resorts with the Victorian government putting the gaming giant on probation, giving it two years to fix its “disgraceful” behaviour or risk losing its flagship Melbourne casino.

In a scathing 652-page final report released on Tuesday, former Federal Court Judge Raymond Finkelstein declared Crown “unsuitable” to hold Victoria‘s only casino licence, but his royal commission gave Crown time to fix its deep-seated problems.

“Within a very short time, the commission discovered that for many years Crown Melbourne had engaged in conduct that is, in a word, disgraceful,” Mr Finkelstein wrote in his royal commission findings

“This is a convenient shorthand for describing conduct that was variously illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative.”

But Mr Finkelstein stopped short of recommending the Victorian government scrap Crown’s licence outright, noting such a move would threaten the jobs of more than 11,000 Crown employees and “real risk of harm” to the state’s fragile post-Covid economy.

Instead, Crown will have to attempt to reform itself under the supervision of a “special manager,” who Mr Finkelstein declared should be “the ultimate decision maker” at Crown for the next two years, before reporting to Victoria‘s gaming regulator on the group’s suitability.

The casino’s business will also be forever changed, with Mr Finkelstein recommending the government ban the use of cash for bets of more than $1000, while patrons be made to carry a card that tracks their play time and spend. It also declared pokie machines should have spending limits.

There was little relief for Crown’s major shareholder Mr Packer, with Mr Finkelstein recommending his private company Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH) be made to sell its 37 per cent stake to below 5 per cent.