{"id":20478,"date":"2021-07-20T15:06:50","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T15:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=20478"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:26:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:26:43","slug":"crown-melbournes-casino-licence-should-be-cancelled-inquiry-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/crown-melbournes-casino-licence-should-be-cancelled-inquiry-hears","title":{"rendered":"Crown Melbourne’s casino licence should be cancelled, inquiry hears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Adrian Finanzio, counsel assisting the inquiry, has told Victoria’s Royal Commission that Crown Melbourne should lose its casino licence due to serious misconduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- Adrian Finanzio<\/strong>, the counsel assisting Victoria’s Royal Commission into Crown Resort, has told the inquiry that the casino operator should lose its licence<\/strong> for Crown Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finanzio argued that the evidence against Crown Melbourne during the inquiry showed \u201cserious misconduct,\u00a0illegal conduct and highly inappropriate conduct<\/strong>, which has been encouraged or facilitated by a culture which has consistently put profit before all other considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the company had put profits above legislative requirements\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<\/strong>could owe the state AU$480m (US$351.4m) in unpaid taxes. Crown CEO Steve McCann<\/a> has suggested that the\u00a0tax underpayment<\/a>\u00a0stood at around AU$8m, but the figure could be significantly higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finanzio also said that Xavier Walsh<\/strong>, Crown Melbourne\u2019s chief executive, and former executive chairman,\u00a0Helen Coonan<\/strong>, were not appropriate people to remain connected to the casino operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finanzio said: \u201cWalsh partially disclosed the existence of the issues to other directors, downplayed the significance of the issue to Crown\u2019s lawyers, and never followed up the matter in any meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told former Federal Court judge\u00a0Raymond Finkelstein<\/strong>, who\u2019s leading the inquiry, that if he decides Crown Melbourne should hold its licence, it must be “placed under strict supervision and should not be left to its own devices to implement reform.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge leading the inquiry was originally due to release his report by August 1<\/a>, but Finkelstein has ordered an extension to the inquiry up to October 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crown Resorts<\/a>\u00a0is also facing a Royal Commission in Western Australia, which is expected to deliver\u00a0a final report by November 14<\/strong>. It will analyse Crown Resorts\u2019 suitability\u00a0<\/strong>to continue holding a casino gaming licence for Crown Perth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WA’s Royal Commission<\/a>\u00a0is also analysing\u00a0how Western Australia\u2019s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC) exercised its powers under relevant state and federal laws<\/strong>\u00a0and whether the regulator was capable and effective in its duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crown Melbourne employees didn\u2019t encourage high-gamblers to take time out<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Victorian Royal Commission heard that\u00a0Crown Melbourne employees\u00a0<\/strong>were not prepared to discourage people from gambling after spending hours inside the venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An employee told the inquiry that he warned gamblers they could lose their VIP status <\/strong>if they chose to self-exclude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A poker dealer at Crown Melbourne also said he wasn\u2019t sure what \u201cresponsible service of gaming\u201d meant<\/strong>. He said he had never advised a customer to go to a responsible gaming centre and had never had contact with the venue\u2019s responsible gambling advisors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another dealer admitted he didn\u2019t know the names of Crown Melbourne\u2019s responsible gambling advisors and had never heard of Crown\u2019s play periods policy to reduce the time customers gamble without taking a break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.P. Morgan believes\u00a0Crown Resorts<\/a>\u00a0will keep its licences in Western Australia and New South Wales, but possibly with new conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Royal Commissions held in other industries such as banking and financial services which inquired into money laundering<\/strong>, terrorism financing, and statutory reporting responsibilities, made large numbers of recommendations<\/strong>, including on the restructuring of some fees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Royal Commission <\/strong>into trade union governance and slush funds in 2014\/2015<\/strong> resulted in a recommendation for the creation of a new national regulator. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adrian Finanzio, counsel assisting the inquiry, has told Victoria’s Royal Commission that Crown Melbourne should lose its casino licence due to serious misconduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Counsel assisting Victoria's Royal Commission has recommended Crown Melbourne lose its casino license due to serious misconduct, illegal conduct, and a culture prioritizing profit over compliance, including significant tax underpayments and failures in responsible gambling protocols. The inquiry also questioned the suitability of key executives, with a similar Royal Commission ongoing in Western Australia, potentially leading to new license conditions for Crown Resorts across its Australian operations.","focusai_entities":"Adrian Finanzio, Crown Melbourne, Crown Resorts, Steve McCann, Xavier Walsh, Helen Coonan, Raymond Finkelstein, J.P. Morgan, Western Australia\u2019s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC)","focusai_location":"Victoria, Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), product_ux (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"License Revocation Impact","query":"What are the immediate and long-term implications for Crown Resorts' market capitalization and operational footprint if the Victorian Royal Commission's recommendation for license revocation is adopted?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Evolution","query":"How might the findings from the Victorian and Western Australian Royal Commissions influence the future design and enforcement of B2B\/B2C licensing conditions and governance frameworks across Australian gaming verticals?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,28,158],"tags":[23825],"class_list":["post-20478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-casino-news","category-slider-home","tag-crown-melbourne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20478"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20501,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20478\/revisions\/20501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}