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How Bad Is Australia’s Current Regulatory Crisis?
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n recent months, Australia’s native casino industry has presided over somewhat of a regulatory crisis. Although the number of culprits in this unfortunate episode are limited, the depth of their disregard for the rules has caused significant alarm across the sector. Indeed, it raises the fundamental question of whether these acts of serious contravention were isolated to a select group of rogue operators, or if their practices are characteristic of approaches amongst other gaming companies. Furthermore, and perhaps of greater concern, is the fact that these disparaging revelations have also exposed inefficiencies within local regulatory and governmental procedures, and even raised question marks with regards to their own integrity. Crown Resorts, for so long the lynchpin of the Aussie gaming landscape, has emerged bruised and battered from a series of ongoing criminal investigations. Numerous weeks of probes and reviews, alongside a considerable amount of soul-searching, has left the casino operator with an extensive to-do list. A set of actions that it must
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address both swiftly and effectively; if it wants to keep its ahead above water. Indeed, the latest enquiry, the third of its type in an extremely short period, seems to have delivered the final ultimatum to Crown. The ailing firm must now get it’s your house in order, or face total closure. The recent analysis of Crown Perth’s fiscal operations returned equally grave results as the investigations conducted into it’s Melbourne and Sydney venues prior. The Western Australia site, based at the Burswood Complex in central Perth, was subjected to an eye-watering 59 recommendations following a brutal dressing down by the Royal Commission. The in-depth study highlighted a disturbing array of financial practices. This included a malfunctioning detection system for unearthing instances where money laundering has occured, links to criminal junket networks, and complete failures in their social responsibility towards vulnerable groups. The Royal Commission used the rather euphemistic description of ‘numerous deficiencies’ to summarize their findings.
Now, due to earlier issues cited at casinos in Melbourne and Sydney, the under-pressure concessionaire finds itself ultimately on a two-year probation period. Indeed, the Royal Commission has determined that the staggered terms of its remediation programme must be met throughout the 24-month period, or the group will be permanently revoked of its gaming license. Crown are already walking a tightrope at its Melbourne facility, located on the banks of the city’s Yarra River. AUSTRAC, the Australian Transaction Reports & Analysis Centre, has initiated legal proceedings against the group, after a dual investigation into Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth, with the latter site reviewed prior to the Royal Commission’s involvement. Both outlets were judged to have fell well short of industryapproved anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures, and also failed to establish robust compliance around customer registration and wagering behaviour. Unfortunately for Crown, these developments served to add further scrutiny on its fledgling Sydney site, situated within the
