{"id":26817,"date":"2022-02-01T07:33:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T10:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=26817"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:44:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:44:56","slug":"gwc-failed-to-investigate-allegations-of-money-laundering-against-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/gwc-failed-to-investigate-allegations-of-money-laundering-against-crown","title":{"rendered":"GWC failed to investigate allegations of money laundering against Crown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Western Australia\u2019s Royal Commission is analysing whether Western Australia\u2019s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC) failed in its oversight of Crown Perth’s operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- The Royal Commission into Crown Perth has heard that Western Australia\u2019s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC) didn’t investigate allegations of money laundering against Crown because the company\u2019s former legal boss said \u201cit was a media beat-up\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the latest sessions of public hearings,\u00a0Crown’s lawyer Kanaga Dharmananda SC<\/strong>\u00a0said the company had made significant changes, including an overhaul of its board and executive team, following three “intense public inquiries” over the past two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said WA did not need an independent monitor because similar bodies already existed in NSW and Victoria, which would “inevitably” cover Perth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Referring to Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission decision to\u00a0allow Crown Melbourne to keep its licence<\/a>\u00a0under stricter conditions, Dharmananda said: “Commissioner Finkelstein accepted that important steps towards reform had been taken<\/strong>\u00a0and that the program is likely to succeed. He concluded about Crown Melbourne that it has the will and capacity to reform itself. Those assessments, with respect, are also relevant to Crown Perth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that WA had lower gambling-related harms compared to other jurisdictions and improvements were being made, including better staff training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perth casinos are regulated by the Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC)<\/strong>\u00a0– a seven-member part-time committee that meets monthly – with assistance from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSCI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GWC was criticised after it was revealed that\u00a0Michael Connolly, the state’s former chief casino officer, had a friendship with Claude Marais<\/a>, Crown Resorts\u2019 general manager of legal and compliance, and\u00a0Paul Hulme<\/strong>, Crown\u2019s manager of gaming and regulatory compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney Fiona Seaward, representing DLGSCI<\/strong>, outlined sweeping changes to GWC and departmental processes, including requiring disclosure of personal relationships with Crown employees and registering gifts, benefits and hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that the department is investigating its code of conduct and awaits an integrity report from the state’s corruption watchdog and public sector commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seaward stated: “The department has accepted, and accepts today, that its historical management of conflicts of interest was not of the standard expected of a modern public sector organisation involved in regulation. The department has taken several steps to address this issue.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The royal commission will also assess whether Crown was allowed to self-regulate all aspects of its Perth operations with the knowledge and approval of WA. Over the next few days,\u00a0the investigation will hear closing statements from lawyers representing Crown and James Packer,<\/strong>\u00a0the company’s majority shareholder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Western Australia\u2019s Royal Commission is analysing whether Western Australia\u2019s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC) failed in its oversight of Crown Perth’s operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Royal Commission into Crown Perth is scrutinizing the Gaming and Wagering Commission's (GWC) oversight failures, including its inaction on money laundering allegations. Crown Resorts highlights extensive internal reforms and parallels with stricter licensing conditions in other Australian jurisdictions, while the GWC and DLGSCI are implementing significant changes to address historical conflicts of interest and improve regulatory standards. The inquiry will also assess Crown's historical self-regulation with WA's knowledge.","focusai_entities":"Crown Perth, Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC), Crown Resorts, Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSCI), Commissioner Finkelstein, Michael Connolly, Claude Marais, Paul Hulme, Fiona Seaward, Kanaga Dharmananda SC, James Packer","focusai_location":"Western Australia, Australia, Perth, NSW, Victoria, Melbourne","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"GWC Reform Efficacy?","query":"What specific, measurable improvements in regulatory oversight and conflict-of-interest management are being implemented by the GWC and DLGSCI, and how will their efficacy be independently verified to prevent future systemic failures in B2C licensing and compliance?"},{"label":"Crown's Reform Sustainability?","query":"Given the historical regulatory failures, what robust, long-term governance frameworks and internal control mechanisms has Crown Resorts established to ensure sustained compliance and prevent recurrence of money laundering vulnerabilities, beyond initial board and executive changes?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156,158],"tags":[20215,14657],"class_list":["post-26817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","tag-crown-perth","tag-crown-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26817","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=26817"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26823,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26817\/revisions\/26823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}