Inside Asian Gaming

IAG APR 2021年4月 亞博匯 26 COVER STORY “Crown hasn’t started as an operator in NSW yet and we’re very pleased we got onto it before they came here, but it is very disappointing and embarrassing for the company itself that it was found wanting in so many ways. Our inquiry only went back six or seven years and there was enough behavior there for a lifetime.” Working in Crown’s favor in NSW is the fact that the operational failures uncovered by the Bergin Inquiry relate almost entirely to the company’s operations in Victoria and Western Australia. In fact, when the NSW inquiry was initially called in August 2019, it was less about concerns over Crown’s internal AML controls and more in response to the sale by Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH) of a 19.99% stake in Crown to Macau casino operator Melco Resorts & Entertainment. The allegation was that any involvement of Melco and its Chairman and CEO, Lawrence Ho, breached Crown’s NSW gaming license – signed in 2014 – which specifically stipulated that neither Stanley Ho nor any Stanley Ho associate was permitted to hold a direct interest in Crown. Stanley Ho, the man credited with building Macau’s vast casino industry, is also Lawrence Ho’s father, and until his passing last year aged 98 he held a beneficial interest in Melco Resorts parent, Melco International Development Ltd. In the end, none of that mattered: Melco backed out of the Crown deal before the inquiry even began and Bergin subsequently found that the agreements entered into by CPH and Melco had not constituted a breach of Crown’s NSW gaming license anyway. Assuming Crown can convert to suitability, that presents an opportunity to open its Sydney casino with a clean slate and there is no doubt the ILGA is amenable to such a scenario. 的協議無論如何都沒有違反皇冠的新州博彩牌照協議。 如若皇冠能夠達到適格性，將為其悉尼娛樂場的開業提供一 個全新的機會。毫無疑問，ILGA願意接受這種情況。 當被問及是否其目標就在於幫助皇冠達成適格性 時，Crawford向《亞博匯》表示，「我們沒有設定目標，但我當然希 望這些與政府簽訂的協議下的義務得到妥善地履行。權衡這一點 以及我們作為監管者顯然身負的義務，我會以最大善意協助這一 過程，以確保他們可以達到一個既令自己適格，亦令我們認為適 格的程度。」 「截至目前就我的所見所聞，我尚未看到令我擔憂的行為。 我看到Helen Coonan領導著董事會非常努力地接受Bergin所指 出的問題及提出的主要建議，因此從目前看來，他們正在做他們 應該做的事情。」 與此同時，儘管ILGA仍在等待德勤澳洲（Deloitte Australia) 對皇冠所有財務賬戶進行審計的結果——旨在「確保其他賬戶 沒有受到有組織犯罪的滲透，並且在其處理資金時並無違規行 為」——該監管機構確實為12月28日開業的Crown Sydney的非 博彩設施發放了臨時酒類牌照。Crawford還暗示，這些臨時牌照 可能會在當前的4月30日到期日之後獲得延長。 然而儘管在新州有所進展，但皇冠似乎現在更應擔心維多利 亞州（「維州」）及西澳州——分別是Crown Melbourne和Crown Perth的所在地，這兩個州的政府目前都針對《Bergin Report》成 立了各自的皇家調查委員會。 顯而易見的問題是：這些州的當局會發現哪些尚未被新州發 現的問題，而皇冠又有哪些補救措施可以採取呢？ 兩者可能都需要時間才有答案。但是可能維州的訴訟程序會 讓皇冠多少感到不安，與西澳洲不同的是，維州的皇家調查委員 會的職權範圍表明，專員不必要一定依賴第三方（維州）的調查結 果。 前南澳州博彩監管專員、長期為澳門政府提供顧問服務的 David Green表示：「這為專員花費1,000萬澳元進行調查找到了 理由。」