Packer’s Casino Dream Dashed as Crown Seen Unfit for License
Bloomberg 2/10/2021 Angus Whitley
(Bloomberg) Billionaire James Packer’s dream of opening a landmark casino in his home city of Sydney hangs in the balance after a damning report into money laundering and organized crime links found Crown Resorts Ltd. isn’t fit to hold a gaming license. The company’s stock fell.
In an excoriating report released Tuesday, retired judge Patricia Bergin recommended that Packer, Crown’s largest shareholder with a 36% stake, be subject to a 10% ownership cap that requires special permission to be lifted. She called for the departure of the CEO and key directors and an overhaul of the firm’s culture and governance before the casino can open.
Pressure mounts as three Packer directors exit Crown board10/02/2021|3min
Three Crown directors from James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings have left the Crown board after the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority found the company unsuited in its current form to operate the new casino.
CPH board members of Crown Guy Jalland and Michael Johnston resigned from the board this morning, before Crown terminated the consultancy contract with CPH board member John Poynton.
The three significant exits from the board of directors will be key in Crown’s efforts to secure the license to the casino at Barangaroo.
The report into Crown Resorts involvement in the casino could also see James Packer be forced to sell down his 36 per cent share in the company to a mere 10 per cent share.
An inquiry into James Packerâs Crown Resorts has found the company is not suitable to hold a casino licence at Barangaroo in Sydney, but a report has outlined steps the group could take to avoid the licence being revoked. Photograph: Paul Braven/AAP
Two directors representing James Packer on the Crown Resorts board have resigned amid pressure from the head of the New South Wales casino regulator to resolve the companyâs licensing crisis before the end of April.
The move, and Packerâs support for Crownâs âannounced reform agendaâ, appears to signal that the billionaire is not keen to fight regulators over recommendations made to clean up the casino group in a damning report tabled in NSW parliament on Tuesday.