What We Know About the Crown Resorts Laundering Situation

Crown Resorts is the largest gaming and entertainment company in Australia. Unfortunately, this company has found itself under investigation this week. Today, we’re going to talk about the new Crown Resorts laundering situation that’s developed.

This isn’t the first time that Crown Resorts have been involved in controversy. Today is also a great time to look at some of the other problems this company has faced over the years.

Let’s get into it!

Casinos Around the World Are Slowly Reopening

Over the past few decades, casino revenue has been increasing around the world. That was particularly true in the United States. The legalization of sports betting helped to bring new life to the country’s gambling industry and new casinos began popping up around the country.

This industry was forced to completely shut down earlier this year. Over in Macau, casinos briefly shut down in February. They quickly reopened, yet travel restrictions to and from Mainland China devastated the territory’s gambling and tourism industry. Most analysts predict the recovery here will take years.

The US and Australia began shutting down casinos in March. As time went on, gambling companies in both countries started working to come up with reopening plans. Casinos around the world started to slowly reopen in June.

Casinos are still hurting right now. Revenue figures have dropped immensely when compared to 2019. Each casino company is taking its own approach to help increase revenue and attract new players in as safe a way as possible.

Crown Resorts is the largest casino operator in Australia. This company has faced these issues for the majority of 2020. New reports claim this company is now being investigated for a number of illegal activities.

Here’s what’s happening with this massive gaming company.

Reports on Crown Resorts Laundering Money Have Surfaced

Crown Resorts is well-known in Australia for its various casinos in Melbourne and Perth. The company is also building a new casino-resort in Sydney. Since its founding in 2007, Crown Resorts has helped to turn Australia into a major gambling destination.

Unfortunately, this company has just informed the Australian Stock Exchange that it’s currently being investigated for possible anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. These are serious charges and have already damaged Crown Resort’s reputation. It also comes as the company faces separate investigations over its strategy to attract gamblers from Mainland China. There are allegations floating that Crown Resorts formed business relations with tour operators that have ties to organized crime groups.

Officials within Crown Resorts claim that its Melbourne casino raised concerns over “management of customers identified as high risk and politically exposed persons.” That includes “concerns in relation to ongoing customer due diligence” and complying with “an anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing programme”.

We won’t know the extent of this investigation for quite some time. It’s also unclear how this will affect Crown Resorts in the long run. It seems possible that the company could face high fees and may possibly even lose its casino license in Melbourne.

Make sure to stay tuned for updates over the next couple of months!

Calls to Update Australia’s Online Gambling Laws Increase

Australia now has a large and successful land-based casino industry. For reasons unknown, this country has not looked to better-regulate its internet gambling industry, though. The online gambling act from 2001 is still the only set of laws that can regulate this industry.

Under these laws, online gambling through sites based overseas is perfectly legal. There are many of these websites available to Australian players. Interestingly, these websites cannot actively promote their services to players in Australia.

Many lawmakers in the country now feel that it’s time to update the laws here. Australia’s government is not earning any revenue from its online gambling activity. Instead, leaders here are simply turning their heads from this industry.

The regulation of online gambling sites here would likely bring the government millions in additional revenue each year. We’re already seeing that in the United States. The parts of the country with regulated online sports betting platforms are earning an incredible amount of money via taxes each month.

It will be interesting to see how laws evolve here over the next few years. We’ll also be eagerly awaiting more news on the Crown Resorts laundering situation.

Are you surprised to hear about the investigation of Crown Resorts? Do you think Australia should begin regulating online gambling? Let us know in the comments section below!