Gaming | ABC documentary details Packer downfall

A screenshot of a scene in the documentary

A documentary has been released by Australia’s ABC network outlining the withdrawal from Macau of Crown Resorts owner James Packer and the downfall of VIP gaming promoters for the company on the mainland.

The report, titled “Crown Confidential: Packer’s Losing Hand”, recalls the 15 Crown Resorts’ staff that were arrested in China last year for gambling-related crimes. Fourteen of them remain in detention on the mainland, waiting to find out if they will be charged.

The response of mainland authorities was to crackdown on the promoters in the same fashion as it had done previously with VIP promoters for Korean casinos.

In the documentary, Steve Vickers, who owns a specialist risk mitigation and security consultation firm, described the Central Government’s response using the well-
known Chinese idiom: “Killing a chicken to scare the money”.

Speaking at a table with a visible copy of the Times newspaper, Vickers cited government concerns over foreign gaming promoters circumventing Chinese law as well as worryingly large sums of capital leaving China as the two causes behind the crackdown.

He also repeated claims that, at the high point in early- to mid-2014, gaming revenues may have been as much as six times higher than that officially reported by Macau’s gaming bureau.

Starting from last year, James Packer has been partially withdrawing from Crown Resorts’ international assets to focus on developing his company within the domestic Australian market. The developments include a USD2 billion Barangaroo casino in Sydney that received its final green light in December after a legal bid from a community group was rejected. DB