{"id":32979,"date":"2022-08-26T02:32:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T05:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=32979"},"modified":"2026-04-23T05:30:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:30:35","slug":"simon-mcgrath-steps-down-as-crown-sydney-chief-executive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/simon-mcgrath-steps-down-as-crown-sydney-chief-executive","title":{"rendered":"Simon McGrath steps down as Crown Sydney chief executive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Crown Resorts has announced that Simon McGrath has resigned as Crown Sydney\u2019s chief executive and group head of hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Australia.- Eight months after joining Crown Sydney,\u00a0<strong>Simon McGrath<\/strong>\u00a0is to leave his role as Crown Sydney chief executive and group head of hospitality. According to a spokesperson for Crown,\u00a0he will leave in September. The company&#8217;s new owner <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/blackstone-completes-acquisition-of-crown-resorts\" target=\"_blank\">Blackstone<\/a>\u00a0will select a replacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to joining Crown,<strong>\u00a0McGrath led Accor&#8217;s Pacific division for 15 years<\/strong>, managing almost 400 hotels and 18,000 employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this month,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/crown-sydney-opens-casino-for-vip-gaming\" target=\"_blank\">Crown Resorts<\/a>\u00a0began gaming at its Crown Sydney venue with the opening of the VIP Crystal Room on its main floor. Other parts of the venue have been\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/crown-sydney-to-open-non-gaming-areas\" target=\"_blank\">open since late 2020<\/a>, but the opening of the casino had been delayed due to the New South Wales inquiry into Crown\u2019s suitability to hold a licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Initially, Black and Platinum Crown Rewards members and their guests will be able to access the Crystal Room, followed by Gold Crown Rewards members later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time of the opening, McGrath said: \u201cThe level of interest has exceeded our expectations in terms of membership. I think we\u2019ll be at a pretty good pace relatively quickly. However, what\u2019s important to us is that we do that in a very safe and responsible way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Health advocates call for smoking ban in Crown Melbourne high-roller rooms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A group of health advocates are pushing for authorities in Victoria to ban smoking in high-roller rooms at Crown Resorts\u2019 casino in the state.&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/crown-resorts-found-unsuitable-to-operate-crown-melbourne\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission<\/a>, led by&nbsp;<strong>Judge Raymond Finkelstein,<\/strong>&nbsp;recommended a ban, but Crown Melbourne\u2019s high-roller rooms currently remain exempt from the state\u2019s indoor smoking ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission made&nbsp;<strong>33 recommendations<\/strong>, some of which have already been implemented.&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/victoria-introduces-new-laws-to-restrict-gambling\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">As a result of new legislation<\/a>, every Australian resident who uses the pokies must set a maximum loss limit before playing. Crown has until the end of 2023 to implement the mandatory pre-commitments, with full implementation needed no later than 2025. Customers will be able to see any loss limit they choose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crown Resorts has announced that Simon McGrath has resigned as Crown Sydney\u2019s chief executive and group head of hospitality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":25149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Simon McGrath has resigned as Crown Sydney's CEO and Group Head of Hospitality, with Blackstone set to appoint his successor. This leadership change coincides with the recent commencement of gaming operations at Crown Sydney's VIP Crystal Room, following prior regulatory delays. Concurrently, Crown Resorts faces ongoing regulatory scrutiny, including calls for a smoking ban in Crown Melbourne's high-roller rooms and the mandated implementation of pre-commitment loss limits for pokie players in Victoria.","focusai_entities":"Simon McGrath, Crown Resorts, Crown Sydney, Blackstone, Accor, Raymond Finkelstein, Crown Melbourne","focusai_location":"Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Victoria, Melbourne","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), product_ux (0.8), tech_data (0.8), marketing_crm (0.75), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Blackstone's Succession Plan","query":"What is Blackstone's strategic timeline and criteria for appointing a new CEO for Crown Sydney, and how might this leadership transition impact the property's operational ramp-up and market positioning?"},{"label":"Regulatory Compliance Impact","query":"How will the mandated implementation of pre-commitment loss limits in Victoria, coupled with potential smoking bans in high-roller rooms, affect Crown Melbourne's GGR, NGR, and overall operational profitability, and what mitigation strategies are being considered?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,157],"tags":[14657],"class_list":["post-32979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-business-news","tag-crown-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32979","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=32979"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33008,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32979\/revisions\/33008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}