200 jobs cut amid economic pressures and regulatory changes
Updated ,first published
Crown Resorts has announced another round of redundancies in Melbourne as its casino business continues to suffer from cost-of-living pressures that restrict customer spending, as well as regulatory restrictions imposed following serious breaches of casino licensing obligations.
Crown Resorts, owned by US financial giant Blackstone, announced on Tuesday that 200 people from its Melbourne team would be cut from its 13,500-person workforce in Victoria.
“Crown is reviewing its operations to respond to challenging economic conditions and ongoing regulatory commitments, while continuing to deliver world-class entertainment experiences to our guests,” a spokesperson said.
“Influencing roles is never a decision taken lightly, but these proposed changes are necessary to support the long-term sustainability of Crown Melbourne.”
Crown said it remains the largest single-site employer in the province.
Victoria has made card play mandatory for electronic gaming machines at Crown Casino. But it has yet to impose the same restrictions on thousands of poker machines in bars and clubs across the province, putting Crown at a disadvantage.
Card gaming allows gamblers to set limits on how much money they are prepared to lose before they start betting, but this measure is also designed to prevent gamblers from laundering money using cash.
Last year Crown made its first profit under Blackstone ownership after cutting costs and selling non-core assets including a private golf course in Melbourne, which it sold for $100 million.
But the business has struggled under the ownership of the US private equity firm, which bought the casino operator for $8.9 billion in 2022, ending James Packer’s relationship with the casino operator and giving him a $3.3 billion windfall.
A series of reports prepared by Age, Sydney Morning Herald And 60 Minutes In July 2019, investigations into Crown’s affairs triggered investigations that led to Crown being deemed ineligible to hold casino licences, and its influence over Packer’s operations being questioned.
The royal commission investigating Crown’s suitability to hold a casino licence, found in 2021 that the Melbourne casino had engaged in illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative behaviour. This included underpayment of state taxes, helping VIP gamblers circumvent currency laws, and predatory behavior towards vulnerable gamblers.
Crown’s lucrative business of luring VIP gamblers from Asia suffered following a ban on Junket operators linked to anti-money laundering breaches, leading to a $450 million fine from Austrac in 2023.
That same year, card gaming was introduced on all electronic gaming machines at Crown.
The implementation of card play at Crown’s blackjack and roulette tables has been postponed until December 2027.
Last year Crown claimed its Melbourne casino was the first in the world to require both card play and pre-set loss and time limits on all poker machines.
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Colin Kruger is senior business correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers.Connect via email.
