Crown Resorts will start operating its Sydney casino without restrictions on gambling limits and a regulator-installed special monitor three years after a NSW inquiry found the gaming giant, now owned by Blackstone, unsuitable to operate.
On Tuesday, the commission’s chairman, Philip Crawford, said Crown was now “a changed business that is looking toward the future”. The decision removes the restrictions imposed on Crown’s $2.2 billion Sydney casino, which opened in December 2020 without being allowed to operate its gaming rooms. Those restrictions included limits on the cash that patrons could gamble with and the establishment of an independent monitor to oversee cultural reforms.
In June 2022, NSW regulators gave Crown the green light to open its gaming floors, installing Gary Gill from consultancy Kroll to monitor the operations. That conditional licence was due to expire in December, but was extended until April.by the Victorian regulator last month. It had been found unfit to run its Melbourne premises after an inquiry in that state found a “disgraceful” litany of legal and ethical breaches.