{"id":21035,"date":"2021-08-04T08:40:05","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T11:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=21035"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:58:19","slug":"judge-denies-risk-to-jobs-if-crown-loses-melbourne-licence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/judge-denies-risk-to-jobs-if-crown-loses-melbourne-licence","title":{"rendered":"Judge denies risk to jobs if Crown loses Melbourne licence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Raymond Finkelstein<\/strong> has rejected Crown’s warning that 12,000 jobs would be at risk if the company is unable to retain its gaming licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.-\u00a0Former Federal Court judge\u00a0Raymond Finkelstein<\/strong>, who\u2019s leading the Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission into Crown Resorts, has rejected Crown Resort’s claims that jobs would be at risk if it loses its licence for Crown Melbourne<\/strong>, saying that another company would eventually step in\u00a0to take over the venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Borsky<\/strong>, Crown’s lawyer, had stated in his submission to the Royal Commission that\u00a0shareholders, employees and tourism would all suffer\u00a0<\/strong>if Crown Melbourne lost its gaming licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning came after another\u00a0Crown lawyer, Leon Zwier<\/a>, wrote a letter to the\u00a0Victorian gaming minister Melissa Horne<\/strong>\u00a0warning that 12,000 jobs would be at risk. The letter also noted that\u00a0the casino operator wouldn\u2019t be able comply with its lending covenants<\/strong>\u00a0which total $700m if it loses the licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xavier Walsh<\/a>\u00a0has\u00a0stepped down as CEO of Crown Melbourne<\/strong>\u00a0after heavy criticism from\u00a0Adrian Finanzio,<\/strong>\u00a0counsel assisting Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission. According to Finanzio, Crown should lose its licence<\/strong>\u00a0for Crown Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said\u00a0Walsh will remain available to assist the company\u00a0<\/strong>until his employment at Crown ends on December 9. It said it will announce a replacement following consultation with the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, Walsh admitted\u00a0Crown Melbourne<\/a>\u00a0had\u00a0underpaid its casino tax\u00a0<\/strong>for seven years. He said he had learned about the possibility in 2018 but only started investigating when Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission into the casino operator was announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission into\u00a0Crown Resorts will continue until October 15<\/a>\u00a0after the government approved judge Raymond Finkelstein\u2019s request for an extension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raymond Finkelstein has rejected Crown’s warning that 12,000 jobs would be at risk if the company is unable to retain its gaming licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Victoria's Royal Commission, led by Raymond Finkelstein, has dismissed Crown Resorts' assertion that 12,000 jobs are at risk if its Crown Melbourne gaming licence is revoked, indicating a new operator would likely assume control. This development follows the resignation of Crown Melbourne CEO Xavier Walsh amidst criticism and his admission of seven years of casino tax underpayments, intensifying regulatory scrutiny on the operator's governance frameworks and compliance protocols.","focusai_entities":"Raymond Finkelstein, Crown Resorts, Crown Melbourne, Michael Borsky, Leon Zwier, Melissa Horne, Xavier Walsh, Adrian Finanzio, Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation","focusai_location":"Australia, Victoria","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Licence Transfer Precedent?","query":"What are the precise legal and operational mechanisms for transferring a major integrated resort gaming licence to a new entity, and what precedent does this Royal Commission's stance set for future regulatory actions in other iGaming jurisdictions?"},{"label":"Covenant Breach Implications?","query":"How would a potential breach of Crown's $700m lending covenants impact its broader capital structure, credit ratings, and future access to capital markets, particularly given ongoing regulatory uncertainties?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156],"tags":[14657],"class_list":["post-21035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","tag-crown-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035","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=21035"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21052,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035\/revisions\/21052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}