As Australian gambling tourism takes a decline, Crown Resorts is set to decrease its workforce by 1,000 people.
The cuts are likely to come at sites in both Sydney and Melbourne and have largely been put down to tighter regulatory frameworks impacting how the casinos’ ability to engage with players and grow their offerings.
Providing comment to the Australian Financial Review on Monday, Carruthers emphasised that “the challenges at Crown reflect greatly reduced foreign tourism, a sharp decline in local workers in the city centres and restrictions on gaming play in Sydney and Melbourne”.
Looking ahead, he added: “We are committed to our regulatory obligations and ongoing transformation, including Crown PlaySafe, Melbourne and Sydney transformation plans and ongoing remediation in Perth.”
Earlier in the year, the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission announced that Crown Resorts’ Crown Sydney property was suitable to retain its licence after regulatory scrutiny in the region.
At the time, Crown noted that it had invested AUS$200m across its business to transform operations, including implementing “extensive reforms across harm minimisation, financial crime, governance, compliance and risk”.
Mark McWhinnie, CEO of Crown Sydney, commented at the time: “Since opening the Crown Sydney casino in August 2022, we have worked tirelessly to implement wholesale reform across our business, delivering 432 remediation activities to the NICC across key areas, including harm minimisation, financial crime, compliance, risk and culture.
“The NICC’s decision today recognises the genuine and sustainable changes we’ve made and our ongoing commitment to operating at the highest industry standards. I would like to thank the NICC, led by Chief Commissioner, Philip Crawford, for his continued leadership, professional engagement and commitment to regulatory reform. Crown Sydney is the safest place to gamble in the state.”
Crown Resorts CEO, Ciarán Carruthers, also painted a positive outlook for the operator at the time, praising the governance of Blackstone and the fresh executive leadership, management and boards.
“We’ve spent the past two years pioneering a monumental transformation unlike anything seen before in corporate Australia”, he stated.
“We remain committed to Crown’s ongoing cultural transformation, compliance and ensuring that we are the safest gambling venue in Australia while providing a fun and entertaining environment for our guests. We must continue to build and maintain trust and respect while showing that success and commercial viability go hand in hand with trust, care and integrity.”
