Crown Resorts chief legal officer Joshua Preston admitted to the ongoing New South Wales gaming commission inquiry that the firm’s full page advertisement issued last July in response to media allegations that its junket operators had ties to organized crime included inaccurate information.
Specifically, the advertisement asserted that the junkets in question were controlled by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Suncity Group, thus guaranteeing their status as properly regulated operations. However, Preston has now conceded that, in fact, while the junkets are controlled by Suncity Chairman Alvin Chau, they are not part of the listed company.
It would seem that Crown’s board of directors was not aware of the distinction at the time they agreed to put all of their signatures on the advertisement, but they were informed several days later and made no effort to correct the public record.
The inquiry was called by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority after a series of damaging Australian media reports last summer. It is examining Crown’s fitness to hold a licence for its new A$2.4 billion hotel and casino which is nearing completion at Sydney’s Barangaroo.
This Dossier results from the “Life After POGOs” editorial project by Asia Gaming Brief which culminated with a pop-up digital forum on 9th December to discuss potentials ramifications in the industry.
Covid-19 forced the rapid and unexpected closure of venues across Australia, changing the operating environment with unprecedented speed and leaving managers scrambling to adapt...
Hong Kong police have arrested 16 people who were running a VIP gambling den, which was believed to have been turning over as much as HK$10 million ($1.28 million) a day.
According to a report in the South Korean media, Lotte Tour Development is targeting a March opening for its new casino in the recently-opened Jeju Dream Tower.
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) says its deputy director Leong Man Ion will step down from Jan. 7th at his own request. He will return to his prior position as a DICJ senior technical advisor.
Over the years, many of the answers have been remarkably prescient in their forecasts for the near-term direction of Asia’s gaming industry. However, we can safely say that no one came anywhere close to guessing
what 2020 may have had in store.
While nowhere in the world has escaped the economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, Macau has been hit harder than most, with forecasts for gross domestic product to shrink more than 50 percent this year.
Before the Covid-19 crisis, tourism in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region was at a record high, on track to welcome 80 million visitors in 2019, generating some $90 billion in revenue.
