Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAY 2022年5月 亞博匯 40 COVER STORY “After all, how many people under 40 do you see carrying cash around these days?” one former regulator asked. “It might reduce Crown’s earnings for those who just don’t want to disclose that they’ve got cash, but ultimately, cashless will benefit casinos. Crown already has a lot of cashless capability anyway.” So what does the future hold for Australia’s casinos? The full answer to that question won’t be known for at least another two years, when the Special Managers appointed to oversee Crown's operations in Victoria and Perth complete their term and the regulators assess whether the company has indeed returned to suitability. There are other factors that need to play out too. “Star [Sydney] must be at some risk of being found unsuitable as well,” observes Green, “in which case you would have to ask how the only two casinos in NSW are both run by unsuitable parties? The optics on that are bad and the implications are bad. “I think this idea that you are too big to fail is nonsense. It really surprised me that Commissioner Finkelstein seemed to embrace that concept in the Victorian Royal Commission. Some of those revelations were so egregious that people have rightly been asking, ‘What do you have to do to lose your license?’ “On the other hand, if you compare casinos to some of the other social evils that we’ve embraced, the harm profile associated with casino gaming is certainly well under those. Look at the number of alcoholics we have in the community – and no- one to my knowledge is talking about prohibition of alcohol. It’s all about responsible service of alcohol, packaging of alcohol and