The outcome of the Victorian royal commission into Crown Resorts bodes well for the Star Entertainment Group, whose misconduct is arguably seen not “as bad” as its Melbourne rival, J.P Morgan Australian analysts say.
On Tuesday, Crown was deemed unsuitable to hold a casino license in Victoria, but has been allowed to keep its license and operate whilst it “cleans up its act.”
The royal commission made a total of 33 recommendations including reducing the shareholding of James Packer, and appointing a “monitor” to oversee all operations of the company over the next two years.
Earlier this month, The Star was featured in a media investigative report, which accused them of some of the same misconduct that landed Crown in hot water with regulators. These included acts relating to facilitating money laundering and improper KYC and due diligence.
But J.P Morgan analyst Don Carducci says that Star’s misconduct is highly unlikely to have been ‘as bad’ as Crown’s; therefore the likelihood of an adverse outcome impacting trading from the NSW public inquiry is low.”
That being said, as the timeline to competition (of the inquiry) is not slated until well in 2022 , the analysts are expecting negative sentiment to last for a longer period of time.
Asia Gaming Brief this week released a comparison of two companies in relation to allegations and their consequences so far.
