Barangaroo casino’s opening won’t be Packer’s party

Where Star has only just begun on its path to clean up – having seen off most of its senior management and board over recent weeks – Crown is well down the road to regulatory renaissance.

Crown has an entirely new team in its upper management ranks, has a fresh board and has spent tens of millions of resources on managing risk.

That said, the state government and its gaming regulator, ILGA, are likely to take a cautious approach to the Crown Sydney licence – which will be provided conditionally and provisionally for a set time period.

Similarly, Crown was able to retain its casino licence following the royal commission into its suitability but only under independent supervision.

The timing of the NSW state government’s decision to let Crown begin gaming is certainly curious.

Only a few weeks ago the publicly held inquiry by ILGA into the suitability of Star to hold a casino licence finished with counsel assisting recommending it fails that test.

Like Crown, the Star inquiry revealed the damaging travails of an organisation displaying ethical and cultural decay, open to infiltration by organised crime. The Crown royal commission report described Crown Melbourne’s management as disgraceful and its practices as variously illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative.

Council assisting the NSW inquiry into Star said failures to manage risk, due diligence and supervision of the lucrative VIP “junket” business stretched to the top of the organisation, including former chief executive officer Matt Bekier.

The optics of the NSW government giving a stamp to the opening of Barangaroo while Star’s transgressions were still in the limelight would have been unfortunate.