\n“Maybe because we’re a bigger company or maybe because we’re more well known or maybe even because I’m more well known, Andrew Wilkie throws something into parliament which is a lie, which gets a lot of headlines,” Packer declared.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nInvestors Return<\/b><\/h2>\n
The slot tampering allegations follow a public scandal that put 17 Crown employees in Chinese prison for almost eight months. Charged and held on “gambling crimes” for marketing their Australian casino resorts to Chinese citizens, the workers were only released this past summer.<\/p>\n
Traded on the Australian Securities Exchange, Crown Resorts has been a volatile stock over the last 12 months. That continued following Wilkie’s allegations to parliament, but after dropping seven percent in what equates to a company valuation loss of $55 million, Crown stock has rebounded and is down 2.3 percent since Wilkie’s announcement.<\/p>\n
Packer Admits Failures<\/b><\/h2>\n
During Crown’s annual meeting, James Packer also took questions from investors and the media, and he was rather candid in his answers.<\/p>\n
\n\n
Packer admitted recently that he’ll advise the board to forego on trying to obtain one of the coveted two Japanese integrated casino resort licenses next year when the country is expected to authorize commercial gambling. Asked why Crown’s expansion in international markets has failed, Packer responded, “We didn’t succeed in a global strategy.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Crown has been an utter failure in Las Vegas. The company was set to acquire Cannery Casino Resorts in 2009 for $1.8 billion, but the US recession forced Packer into terminating the deal. The breakup fee was $320 million.<\/p>\n
The arrests in China led to Crown dissolving its relationship with Melco Resorts, a joint venture named Melco Crown that owned two integrated casino resorts in Macau, and one in the Philippines. The split forced Crown to fold on its planned $2 billion Alon Las Vegas project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billionaire Crown Resorts founder James Packer says the allegations being levied against his company under parliamentary privilege by Australian federal lawmaker Andrew Wilkie are a “lie.” Last week, Wilkie, an anti-slot machine activist, said three whistleblowers who previously worked at Crown Resorts’ Melbourne casino informed him that the company tampered with gaming terminals to alter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":61680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,60,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
James Packer Says Crown Resorts Slot Tampering Allegations a 'Lie'<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n