The renowned Crown Resorts is going through a challenging period, and some measures had to be taken. Since the foot traffic recently wasn’t how it used to be, the casino decided to reduce its operating hours. Almost 200 people were laid off following the prior closing of one of the casino’s gaming floors.
Reducing costs:
The employees were notified on Monday, November 20, that there wasn’t enough traffic to continue being open 24/7, so 180 people were laid off.
The new working hours of the casino are from 2 am to 10 am from Monday to Thursday, while on Friday, working hours are from 10 am to 14 am.
On weekends, the casino will work from 2 pm to 4 am on Saturdays and 2 am on Sundays.
The Crown’s Barangaroo casino lost a lot of revenue due to changing the New South Wales anti-money laundering failings and tax regulations, and the same happened with Star Entertainment.
As The Sydney Morning Herald reports, Mark McWhinnie, the Chief of Crown Sydney, said that they want to redeploy as many former employees as possible in other company’s casinos in Perth and Melbourne. He said: “Our priority is to support the 180 impacted team members alongside their union as they determine their next steps.”
Crown Sydney is a VIP-only facility without poker machines and with a minimum bet of $20. The mahogany floor with 30 private saloons is now closed, and the crystal floor with 160 tables and 66 electronic tables is still available to them.
The company survived the tough period. After an almost $1 billion loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, various financial penalties, and failures when it comes to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism regulations, last year’s loss was only $199 million, which is a significant improvement.
The idea and agreement with the government:
In 2013, the company agreed with the government to pay $1 billion for license fees and taxes related to gaming during the first 15 years of the casino, and now they’re negotiating to change the terms of the contract since the economic and regulatory climate is different now.
After its initial success, the Crown was attacked by money launderers and infiltrated by international criminal syndicates, so the casino license was lost in three states, including the Barangaroo casino. In 2022, the company got a conditional license for Barangaroo, which is valid until the end of April next year.
The casino was born as an idea of James Packer, the former chairman of the company and the majority shareholder, who wanted to link the Barangaroo with the Chinese high rollers, which run about 75% of the global VIP market. However, the idea changed, and the company focused on luxury hotels and restaurants.
