The Barangaroo project was becoming eye-wateringly expensive.
The cost of Crown’s expansions into Macau and Las Vegas were weighing on its balance sheet. Packer, it seemed, was at the height of his powers.īut within two years of that triumph, Crown was groaning under a mountain of debt. The project was so “unique” and “visionary” that O’Farrell bypassed any tender to award the licence under the unsolicited bids process available where a project is deemed unique. The Packer spin had been total and the NSW government, then led by premier Barry O’Farrell, were won over by his vision.
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Photograph: Gaye Gerard/Getty ImagesĪfter a campaign that included a tear-filled TV interview on Seven’s Sunday Night program, Packer convinced the NSW government to give him the second casino licence and a prime site smack bang on the Sydney waterfront of the emerging precinct of Barangaroo, to build a 271-metre “iconic“ building housing a high-roller casino, a six-star hotel and 82 luxury units attracting prices over $40m. The inquiry heard that Packer had even met the boss of one, Suncity, in the gambling mecca Macau. Under heavy questioning, Packer eventually conceded that he was “on notice” of the alleged crime connections of no fewer than six junkets – companies that bring high rollers from overseas to gamble at Crown casinos and often partner in operating high-roller rooms. Executives have admitted to $5.6m in cash found in a cupboard in the high-roller room of Crown Melbourne and arrangements that allowed VIP gamblers to deposit cash without having to put it through “the cage” – the official chip-issuing facility at Crown’s Melbourne and Perth casinos. The inquiry has heard evidence that appears to suggest that Crown turned a blind eye to money laundering. Looking subdued and at times uncomfortable, he has been painfully stepped through how his unfolding mental illness, a Chinese crackdown on foreign gambling, and a culture of trying to please the boss wreaked havoc on his gambling empire.
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