In a scathing interview, former Crown Resorts owner James Packer has criticized the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission head Philip Crawford, claimed unfair treatment for Crown compared to Star Entertainment and blasted casino regulations.
Packer made the claims in a wide-ranging interview with Rampart’s Joe Aston, a close friend of the executive.
Regarding Crawford, Packer claimed that Crawford nearly derailed Crown’s acquisition by Blackstone in 2022 for AU$8.9 billion ($5.74 billion). Packer claimed that rival Star Entertainment “was behaving far worse than Crown ever behaved, highlighting charges leveled by the nation’s financial watchdog ASIC against Star which Crown was not subject to.
Packer also expressed an extreme dislike for Victorian regulators and the state’s former Premier Daniel Andrews, going so far as to call the official “human filth”.
The executive stated that Andrews “is about my least favorite person in the world. I think Daniel Andrews not only ruined Victoria, he almost ruined my life”.
Packer was speaking specifically about the change in taxation rates on Crown, “with three weeks to go” on the sale to Blackstone.
Overall, the executive stated: “I think it’s outrageous what’s happening to the casinos in Australia. The pubs and clubs are booming,” he stated. Packer highlighted the fact that casinos have been obliged to turn cashless, while pubs and clubs can still accept cash, noting that “casino operators pay hundreds of millions of dollars to get their licenses in the first place […] to differentiate themselves from the clubs and the pubs.”
“It’s as though they’re trying to bankrupt the businesses,” he opined.
Overall, the executive, who has been out of the casino industry since his 2022, evaluated his business savvy as a “5 out of 10”, indicating that the sale to Blackstone and sale of his Macau operations were some of his better business moves.
“I arguably sold Macau well and I arguably sold Crown well to Blackstone,” indicated Packer.
The former Crown boss has had a tumultuous few years, trying to overcome mental health and substance abuse issues. He had largely stayed out of the spotlight until the recent interview.
