The entire board of James Packer’s Crown Resorts should resign over the casino group’s licensing crisis, corporate governance experts say. A scathing report on Crown, tabled in NSW parliament on Tuesday, has prompted a week of boardroom bloodletting at the company, with three directors so far resigning and at least one more set to follow.
The NSW gaming regulator has earmarked Crown Resorts general counsel Mary Manos as the next official who must exit the troubled gaming giant before it is considered fit to run a casino in the state.
First published on Thu 11 Feb 2021 02.37 EST
The chief executive of Crown Resorts, Ken Barton, and a non-executive director of the casino group, Andrew Demetriou, have reportedly resigned following pressure from gambling regulators in New South Wales and Victoria.
A third director, Harold Mitchell, is believed to be planning to resign after the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) asked him to explain why he was suitable to remain on the board.
The Australian newspaper reported on Thursday night that Barton had offered his resignation and Demetriou had quit.
“I have always been a team player and supported the greater good,” Demetriou said in a statement according to the Australian. “I will therefore step down from the Crown Resorts board to give Crown the best possible chance of becoming suitable to the NSW regulator.”
Crown Resorts CEO Ken Barton and director Andrew Demetriou are under increasing pressure to resign, as gambling regulators in NSW and Victoria zero in on the embattled company.
The NSW casino regulator says there will need to be much more than two director sackings before he is willing to give the company a licence to operate its Barangaroo casino.