Next Thursday’s Crown Resorts annual meeting is shaping up one of the most explosive on record after sensational claims were aired in Federal parliament yesterday.
Federal anti-pokies independent MP Andrew Wilkie (Tasmania) claimed that Crown removed low-betting options from pokies and made it easier for punters to gamble at its main casino in Melbourne.
The claims knocked Crown shares down to a 2017 low of $10.80 during trading, wiping more than half a billion dollars off its market value. The shares recovered to end off 4% at $11.28.
The Victorian casino regulator is investigating (despite claims it has ignored some of the claimed breaches) and Crown has strongly denied the allegations.
A 30 minute video tabled in Federal parliament by Mr Wilkie from three whistleblowers claimed that Crown tampered with poker machines, ignored domestic violence and undermined government efforts to track money laundering (http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/crown-casino-tampered-with-poker-machines-whistleblowers-allege-20171017-gz32fm.html).
The three anonymous men who made the claims are said to be former employees at Crown in Melbourne,.
Crown told the ASX in a statement yesterday afternoon that it “rejects the allegations made today under parliamentary privilege by Mr Andrew Wilkie MP … concerning the improper manipulation of poker machines and other illegal or improper conduct at Crown Casino in Melbourne.
“Crown calls on Mr Wilkie to immediately provide to the relevant authorities all information relating to the matters alleged.”
Victoria’s Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings said allegations needed to be “vigorously tested”.
“We want to make sure that we leave no stone unturned in relation to what evidence and information may be available to us,” he said. It was a year ago next week that a number of Crown executives and associates were arrested in China in connection with breaches of the country’s gambling laws.
