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In Melbourne, there is a casino called the Crown Casino.
Getty Images/AFP/WILLIAM WEST
Crown Resorts, which is owned by billionaire James Packer, said it expected to lose money for the fiscal year ending in June, as earnings were hurt by lockdowns to stop the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, as well as escalating casino regulatory investigations in Australia.
“The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on Crown’s results for the 2021 financial year,” the company said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. “Crown’s properties were closed for various periods of time and Covid-19 related operating restrictions applied throughout the period, including capacity limits and physical distancing protocols,” the company said.
The business said EBITDA will be between A$90 million ($67.7 million) and A$100 million after considering in expenditures related to the plants’ shutdown due to government orders under the pandemic and other issues, however it did not disclose projections for annual losses. Crown also stated that their full-year results will be released on August 30.
The Covid-19 pandemic is predicted to continue to have a severe influence on the company’s business, since authorities in Sydney announced a two-week lockdown on June 26 to prevent the virus from spreading in one of Australia’s largest cities.
“Crown continues to operate in an uncertain environment,” the business said, adding that “a number of variables are projected to impair financial performance throughout the 2022 financial year.”
A variety of regulatory processes that Crown is subjected to, as well as the escalating anti-money laundering regulatory probes of casinos across the country, are among the uncertainties.
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In Sydney, the Crown Resorts Barangaroo South premium hotel resort and One Barangaroo Crown residences… [+] are under construction.
Bloomberg/Brendon Thorne

Crown Sydney was previously declared ineligible for a gambling license by regulators in February of this year. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, which has been looking into Crown’s Melbourne activities since last year, has now begun looking into Crown Perth, Star Entertainment Group, and Auckland-based SkyCity Entertainment Group’s casino in Adelaide, just over four months later.
Crown also expects higher corporate costs in the current fiscal year, which ends in June 2022, as a result of legal and consultancy bills related to ongoing regulatory investigations.
“Crown is also reviewing the potential gaming tax underpayment recently mentioned in the Victorian Royal Commission and will update the market once Crown’s review is complete,” it added.
Crown has received a number of proposals notwithstanding the continuing regulatory investigations. In May, Star, Sydney’s lone casino, launched a A$9.5 billion offer to merge with Crown, creating a A$12 billion casino behemoth. Oaktree Capital Group offered A$3.1 billion in finance to buy back the shares held by its controlling shareholder earlier this month.

Crown Resorts CEO James Packer speaks during the company’s annual general meeting in 2017 in… [+] Melbourne.
Getty Images/Scott Barbour
After taking over the enterprise from his late father, Kerry, Packer is the main shareholder of Crown, which owns casinos in Australia and London. In March 2018, he stood down from the firm’s board of directors, and four months later, he resigned from the board of his family’s holding company, Consolidated Press.
According to the Real-Time Billionaires List as of Monday noon SGT, Packer, 53, is Australia’s 14th richest person, with a net worth of $3.5 billion./nRead More

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