Australian casino operator Crown Resorts has announced that its flagship Sydney Casino will no longer be open 24/7 from Wednesday November 29th.
According to local press reports, the company has cited ongoing economic factors which have negatively impacted the industry as a whole. The reduced hours will see the casino closed for at least six hours per day and 12 hours on a Sunday. This is expected to result in the loss of around 180 jobs at the property.
Speaking of the announcement Crown Sydney CEO Mark McWhinnie said:
“Our priority is to support the 180 impacted team members alongside their union, as they determine their next steps. We hope to redeploy as many people as possible to other roles within the business while continuing our commitment to our reform and remediation program.
Difficult decisions are required in the current environment to ensure we always provide a world-class experience for our guests and we look forward to resuming 24 hour casino operations across two floors when business demand returns.”
Earlier this year, the casino had announced that it was closing one of its two VIP gaming floors and would be reducing staff numbers by 95 due to “macroeconomic challenges”.
Crown 2023 Losses
In October, Crown reported a loss of AU$199 million ($126.4 million/€119.7 million) during the 2023 financial year as regulatory penalties and the cost of living crisis saw the company record a loss for the third year in a row.
However, those results marked a significant improvement on the previous year when the company lost almost AU$1 billion ($635 million/€601.4 million).
Crown is also preparing for one of the largest financial penalties in Australian corporate history. In July of this year, Australia’s Federal Court approved a settlement proposed by Crown Resorts and The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) that will see the casino operator pay AU$450 million ($285 million/€275.3 million).
The deal was agreed following an investigation which uncovered serious AML failings at Crown’s Melbourne and Perth properties. A provision for this penalty was made in the FY2023 report.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.
