Published
Legal & Regulatory

Royal commission into Crown Resorts extended until October

The royal commission into Crown Resorts’ suitability to hold a casino licence in Victoria has been granted additional time and funding by the Victorian Government.

Crown

The inquiry deadline has been extended from 1 August to 15 October 2021, at the request of Commissioner Ray Finkelstein. The commission will also receive an increase in funding from AU$10m ($7.7m) to AU$19.75m.

“We established this royal commission to get the answers we need about Crown – and this extension will ensure the scope of evidence provided so far is able to be thoroughly considered,” said James Merlino, Acting Premier of Victoria.

The time extension and additional funding were requested to help the inquiry look into Crown’s management, the corporate structure of its casinos, its suitability to hold a licence for a Melbourne venue, and possible allegations that the operator has underpaid casino tax.

The inquiry uncovered that Crown never investigated a 2016 incident when 19 of the company’s staff were detained in China for gambling promotion offences.

Crown Chief Risk Officer Anne Siegers has said conducting an investigation now won’t have any effect, as it should have been done immediately – not years after the fact. She added that by the time she joined Crown, “many of the people and individuals were no longer in place and therefore it was too late.”

“The evidence we have seen coming out of the royal commission to date is significant – we’ll provide the Commissioner with the resources and time required to complete this important work as requested,” said Melissa Horne, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation.

Premium+ Connections
Premium

Lynon

 
Premium

Digitain

 
Premium

Sport Generate

 
 
Premium

Imagine Live

 
Premium

PIN-UP Partners

 
Premium

Revsharks

 
Premium

RISK

 
Premium

Galaxsys

 
Premium

GammaStack

 
Premium

1xBet Partners

 
Premium Connections
Consultancy

SCCG Management

Executive Profiles
Zeal Network SE

Stefan Tweraser

VIP Play

Les Ottolenghi

Scientific Games

Keshav Pitani

Social & App

Spribe CEO exclusive: Simplicity is the foundation

Spribe CEO David Natroshvili speaks to Gambling Insider abou...

Redefining iGaming: A history of crash games

Crash games is a growing vertical that has taken gambling by...

A certain something: What makes crash games special?

Crash games. They’re simple, they’re easy to learn and,...

Smarter innovation to shape the future

Spribe CCO Giorgi Tsutskiridze discusses the past, present a...

Facing Facts: The corner of quarterly contemplation

With Q1 reports out across the industry, Gambling Insider co...

Taking Stock: A guide to key stock prices across the industry

Gambling Insider tracks prices from some of the industry’s...

15 years of Gambling Insider: From the Founders

Over the last 15 years, Gambling Insider magazine has interv...

15 years of Gambling Insider: The Awards over time

Global Gaming Awards Event Manager Mariya Savova gives us he...