Crown Resorts to lay off 1,000 people

Crown Resorts has felt the pinch of a decline in tourist numbers combined with heavier headwinds experienced by the casino and gaming sector due to stricter regulation taking over Australia. The company, which has been dealing with tighter restrictions and gaming safeguards on its venues, has reported that it has seen its operations shrink to a point where a restructuring has now been necessitated.

According to Crown Resorts Chief Executive Officer Ciaran Carruthers, the properties in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth will all have to undergo this process. The 1,000 layoffs account for roughly 4% of the company’s workforce, and it includes both workers at casinos as well as corporate employees.

Speaking originally to the Australian Financial Review, Carruthers raised concerns about the sharp decline in the number of tourists visiting, which has prompted Crown Resorts to take a hard look at how to navigate the coming years.

Carruthers though noted that the company was fully committed to its responsible gambling plan that ensures the safety of consumers. Crown Resorts currently employees some 20,000 people, and it is considered the largest employer across Australia.

The company’s properties have habitually appealed to high rollers and well-heeled players, but it has also beckoned to locals. Now, though, toughening local regulations along with a stem in the tide of high roller players have put the company on the back foot mandating a harder decision.

According to the original media publication, it was Carruthers who decided to take a preemptive move by laying off people and the decision did not come up from Blackstone Group, which acquired the company when it was still embattled by regulators.

This is the second bad news related to Crown Resorts in a little under a year, after AUSTRAC fined the company AU$450m last July. The total amount of penalties paid or payable by Crown Resorts has reached AU$700m along with AU$200m which the company invested in remediation efforts.

Crown Resorts has been taking a number of measures to ensure that it observes the strictest gambling regulations, including the decision to transition its Crown Melbourne slots to carded play. This is not the first time the company has cut jobs either, as previously, Crown Resorts announced 275 redundancies due to low traffic at one of its gaming floors in Sydney.

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