Steve McCann, Crown Resorts CEO, says the company has turned a corner and has been materially de-risked over the last 6 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Australia.- Steve McCann,\u00a0Crown Resorts CEO<\/strong>, has said that “good progress” has been made in implementing the reforms outlined in\u00a0the Bergin report<\/a>, which found Crown unsuitable to hold its licence for its new Sydney casino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) ordered the casino operator to pay a fine of AU$22.5m (US$17.3m)<\/a> following the inquiry and said measures were needed if Crown is to open the gaming areas of Crown Sydney. Crown has since developed a remedial plan to resolve issues raised by various regulatory agencies. The programme focuses on key areas such as culture, responsible gambling, risk management, intermediaries, and VIPs and key players.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing programmes, Crown Resorts had made further board changes over the last months. In the first week of December,\u00a0Ziggy Switkowski<\/a>\u00a0was confirmed as chairman of Crown Resorts following the necessary regulatory approvals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Switkowski was elected in August to replace\u00a0Helen Coonan<\/a>, who assumed the role on an interim basis when\u00a0Ken Barton stepped down<\/a>. Crown Resorts<\/a>\u00a0also announced the appointment of\u00a0Danielle Keighery<\/strong>\u00a0to the new role of chief corporate affairs and brand officer. Keighery will start working for the group by 2022 and\u00a0will be in charge of Crown\u2019s brand and reputation work<\/strong>\u00a0across all touchpoints.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to igaming Business, McCann said: “We have invested a lot of time and effort since then to continue on that path. I firmly believe the business has turned a corner and has been materially de-risked over the last 6 months.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added: “We have seen significant progress on our remediation plan, we\u2019ve had a significant overhaul of the senior leadership and board. We\u2019ve had continued challenges through Covid-19 in terms of lockdown, but today we have all three resorts open and operating.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n McCann also mentioned Blackstone’s latest offer<\/a>\u00a0for Crown. He said: “We\u2019ve made it clear that we don\u2019t think that the offer is compelling value. We\u2019ll be looking at every alternative to try and maximise value, but the very first step is\u00a0getting open in Sydney<\/a>\u00a0and making sure the market can see the value of these fantastic assets and get trading post-pandemic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n