This Month
Casino group’s bad week: The heat intensifies
It was Crown’s casual approach to the welfare of chronic gamblers that drew some of the most damaging admissions of the inquiry so far.
- Elouise Fowler
Victoria’s Crown probe extended by 11 weeks
Crown Resorts will face an extra 11 weeks of heat from Victoria’s royal commission after the first phase of public hearings cast more doubt over its suitability to run the Melbourne casino.
- Updated
- Elouise Fowler
Crown still has not investigated China arrests, inquiry told
Crown Resorts executive chairman Helen Coonan is still to launch an internal investigation into the arrests of 19 employees in China in 2016.
- Elouise Fowler
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Problem gambling probe may upend Crown’s business model
The Victorian royal commission’s focus on such betting has exposed the company’s underbelly: how its cultural and risk settings play out on the gaming floor.
- James Thomson
Finkelstein questions Crown’s ability to overhaul culture
Commissioner Ray Finkelstein cast doubt on Crown Resorts’ ability to overhaul its ruthless ‘profit motive’-driven culture by changing ‘a few people at the top’.
- Elouise Fowler
Veteran Crown executive admits to preying on problem gamblers
The executive sent just one problem gambler from the casino’s high-roller room to seek help over almost a decade and admitted to pursuing ‘money above all else’.
- Elouise Fowler
Crown concealed possible $200m tax rort, inquiry hears
The group failed to alert the Victorian royal commission that it may have shortchanged the state government up to $200 million.
- Elouise Fowler
AUSTRAC ensnares Crown and rivals in money laundering probe
Crown Resorts, The Star and SunCity face probes into money laundering investigation. Crown broke the law by allowing customers to use eftpos and credit cards at its Melbourne casino.
- Elouise Fowler
Crown spent $2.5b on marketing, $1.9m on problem gamblers
Responsible gambling is a central issue in the royal commission looking into Crown’s suitability to hold Victoria’s sole casino licence.
- Elouise Fowler
Problem gambling code designed to ‘protect’ Crown, inquiry told
Crown admitted its psychologists would not tell avowed gambling addicts to stop and leave Melbourne’s sprawling Southbank casino complex.
- Elouise Fowler
Crown breached problem gambling code as recently as April
Crown Resorts breached its code aimed at curbing problem gamblers as recently as April this year; a VIP gambler played for more than 34 hours at Crown Melbourne in 2019 before staff forced them to take a break.
- Elouise Fowler
Shrinking BetMakers’ audacious Tabcorp bid
It isn’t easy for a tiny company trading on a massive multiple to digest a far larger business. And every day since Friday’s announcement has made it harder.
- Myriam Robin
Inquiry slams Crown’s responsible gaming program
Crown Resorts 11th-hour plans to implement a ‘suite of changes’ to its responsible gambling program were too little, too late, the royal commission heard.
- Hannah Wootton
‘Bunch of promises’: Tabcorp bidder takes swipe at rival
The Australian chief executive of global bookmaking giant Entain has lashed one of its competitors in the race to buy the company’s wagering and media business.
- James Thomson
May
BlueBet seeks $80m at 4.9x net revenue for float
Local bookmaker BlueBet’s initial public offering is lined up at the starting barrier and ready to jump.
- Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd
Tabcorp gets $4b bid from Matt Tripp-backed BetMakers
Investors in lotteries and wagering giant Tabcorp would receive $3 billion of shares in white-hot gambling growth stock BetMakers under a new takeover proposal.
- Updated
- James Thomson and Jemima Whyte
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Tripp’s bid for Tabcorp has hurdles to jump
BetMakers has legendary bookie Matt Tripp in its corner, but Tabcorp investors will need a lot of convincing to back its bid for Tabcorp’s wagering division.
- Updated
- James Thomson
Crown tried to slash bank account audit from nine to three years
The NSW casino regulator asked Crown Resorts to review nine years of its bank accounts for signs of money laundering but the James Packer-backed group tried to haggle it down to three years, an inquiry heard.
- Elouise Fowler
Matt Tripp’s Tabcorp bonanza
Matthew Tripp has nearly $140 million reasons to strike on Tabcorp’s wagering business.
- Myriam Robin
Crown breached new financial crime policy, inquiry hears
Crowns Resorts has already contravened its new anti-money laundering policy to not receive cash deposits, an inquiry has heard.
- Elouise Fowler
