Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN APR 2021 22 COVER STORY by Bergin – Guy Jalland, Michael Johnston, Andrew Demetriou, Harold Mitchell and John Poynton – plus CEO Ken Barton and General Counsel Mary Manos. Their absence has left the Crown Resorts Board with just four active members at time of writing, including Helen Coonan, who has assumed the role of Executive Chairman while the company looks for a new CEO to replace Barton. ILGA chair Philip Crawford, tasked with assessing Crown’s efforts to convert to suitability in NSW, tells IAG he is in regular contact with Coonan – at least weekly by phone and fortnightly in person – and that the tone of discussions in recent months has been encouraging. “Helen Coonan has been very responsive to us and to the findings of Bergin,” Crawford says. “She gets it. It’s a very serious matter, so this is really about crisis management. “Without that response and perceiving the need for change, Crown would never get to being suitable in my view, but from day one she has been very open and frank about how bad things were and her shock and disappointment at matters uncovered in the inquiry. She has also understood that it needs to happen pretty quickly. “One of the big requirements was that a lot of people had to go to change the culture of the place, because a lot of it is leadership from the top, and that process has just about been completed. Now it’s getting better structures in place to cope with the compliance obligations and put up defenses against infiltration from organized crime. It’s very important to get those in place. “It’s ironic and almost unbelievable that a company that has traded in other jurisdictions for almost 30 years did not have adequate measures in place. This is not a start-up we’re dealing with.