Crown Resorts: WA Royal Commission to release interim report

Western Australian’s Royal Commission has sent an interim report to Governor Kim Beazley today.

Australia.- Former Supreme Court justices Neville Owen and Lindy Jenkins together with former auditor-general Colin Murphy have today sent an interim report to the governor of Western Australia, Kim Beazley AC.

The office of premier Mark McGowan has also received a copy of the report on how Western Australia’s gaming regulator exercised its powers under relevant state and federal laws and whether the regulator was capable and effective in its duties.

The Royal Commission is expected to deliver a final report by November 14 which will analyze Crown Resorts’ suitability to continue holding a casino gaming licence for Crown Perth.

Owen said: “So far as we are aware, this is the first time since the grant of the casino licence in 1988 that there has been an inquiry into these issues and given social changes in over 30 years, there is an increased importance to an inquiry of this kind.

“We will be concerned with grave matters of private and public interest and we enter into this investigation with that firmly in mind.”

Western Australian’s regulator has already prohibited Crown Resorts from running high-roller activities at its Perth casino.

In May, David Halge, former chief casino officer told the Royal Commission’s inquiry that an anti-money laundering (AML) police unit dismantled in 1999 could have helped Western Australia’s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC) to investigate potential criminal activities.

David Halge said the AML unit comprised a single person whose work solely entailed investigating junket operators. Halge said explained that person analysed junket operators and reported any criminal activity to the GWC.

He said: “Once the police unit was disbanded, I didn’t need to take any report up to the commission that was brought to me by the inspectors concerning criminal activities or money laundering.”

Halge suggested that Gaming and Wagering Commission member Barry Sargeant should be asked why the AML police unit was dismantled.

The commission will resume with opening statements on July 16. The next witnesses are set to begin from July 19.

Victoria’s Royal Commission hears of customer who gambled for nearly eight hours a day

Victoria’s Royal Commission has heard that a Chinese who moved to Australia in 2002 gambled at Crown Melbourne for nearly eight hours a day.

The man told the inquiry: “There were no staff or dealers or floor managers approaching the gamblers … they just let gamblers lose more and more and more.”

In May, Ai Nguyen, a gambling counsellor at the Australian Vietnamese Women’s Association, said Crown Resorts’ 24/7 operating hours, its rewards system and a weak self-exclusion programme failed to help people with gambling problems.

The Victorian Arabic Social Services community support group also said that some of its clients who used the self-exclusion programme reported that the casino allowed them to enter areas they were meant to be barred from.

Victoria’s Royal Commission extended to October 15

The government has approved judge Raymond Finkelstein’s request for an extension to continue up to October 15.

Finkelstein also asked for an increase in the commission’s funding from AU$10m to AU$19.75m to continue investigating Crown Resorts suitability to maintain its licence for its Melbourne casino. 

The judge leading the state of Victoria’s inquiry was originally due to release his report by August 1.

During the last session of public hearings into Crown Resorts, Ann Siegers, Crown’s chief risk officer, referred to the arrest of 19 Crown executives in China in 2016.

Siegers, who joined Crown Resorts in 2017, admitted that a review of the incident should have been undertaken immediately to be effective.