Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAY 2022年5月 亞博匯 21 封面故事 O nce considered the gold standard of casino gaming in Asia-Pacific – and to this day the source of many high-level gaming executives across the region – Australia’s casino industry suddenly finds itself plagued by uncertainty. In the wake of damning inquiries into Crown Resorts in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, and an ongoing review of The Star Sydney which continues to uncover widespread anti-money laundering failures, at least one government minister has begun asking if Australia still needs a casino industry at all. In late March, NSWTransport Minister Rob Stokes said the inquiries into Crown and Star “would have significant impacts on the regulatory environments faced by casino operators” and that “those impacts will generate a cascading series of consequences that should cause us to pose an existential question about the future of casinos in NSW.” Referencing the original media investigations that led to the inquiries, which alleged Crown and Star had enabled suspected money laundering, organized crime, fraud and foreign interference by cultivating high-roller gamblers with links to organized crime, Stokes said, “Basically, everything we were warned about turns out to be entirely true. Revelations of tax evasion also completely undermine the argument that casino operations are justified on the basis of the revenue they provide to support wider social and community benefits.” Such comments may seem, on the surface, to be overly dramatic. After all, as one former Australian regulator who asked not to be named told IAG , casinos create jobs, 澳 洲的博彩業曾被視 為亞太地區博彩業 的黃金標準，時至 今日，這一地區的 許多博彩業界高管 仍均出自澳洲但現在。澳洲這個曾經輝 煌的行業卻突然受到諸多不確定因素困 擾。 早前針對新南威爾斯州（新州）、 維多利亞州（維州）和西澳洲（西澳） 的皇冠集團物業進行審查，目前亦針對 星億集團的The Star Sydney持續審查 中，期間陸續發現反洗錢方面出現漏 洞，至少有一位政府部長已經開始質疑 澳洲是否仍需博彩業。 三月下旬，新州交通部長 R o b Stokes表示，針對皇冠集團及星億集團