Sydney's Crown Hotel is cutting hours and cutting jobs
Crown Sydney is apparently no longer the jewel in the crown of Australia's gambling empire, Crown Resorts. Traffic is less congested than before, resulting in shorter operating hours and employees receiving pink slips.
The luxury casino and hotel in central Sydney will no longer operate its gaming floor 24 hours a day, seven days a week due to a lack of foot traffic. This is Crown's second adjustment in less than a year, after it closed Sydney's Crown Rosewood Arcade in August.
Starting this month, Crown Sydney will operate from 10am to 2am from Monday to Thursday, with extended opening hours until 4am on Fridays, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Opening hours on Saturday have been postponed to 2:00 p.m., and closing time is set at 4:00 a.m. Sunday hours are 2pm to 2pm. to 2 a.m.
Fire employees one month before Christmas
Meanwhile, reduced operating hours have led to the company's decision to lay off 180 gaming, casino support and hospitality staff. That brings the total number of employees laid off since it opened nearly a year ago to 275.
A spokesman for Crown Resorts owner Blackstone said it was working to provide alternatives to affected employees. Opportunities include relocation to other Crown office locations across Australia, providing a glimmer of hope for those facing redundancy. However, in many cases, moving is not a viable option.
The decision highlights the ongoing challenges faced by the Australian gaming industry in dealing with the ongoing fallout from misconduct. Crown and Star Entertainment and other casino operators remain embroiled in issues related to allegations of money laundering, cheating, fraud and other crimes.
Crown had planned to open a Crown property in Sydney in 2020, but impact investigations in several Australian states found it was ineligible to hold a casino license.
The opening of the Sydney casino was subsequently put on hold and did not open until just before August last year. Crown was granted a conditional start-up license, which it may be able to maintain after the conditional license expires next April, as long as the company complies with the new rules.
Crown can’t escape the taxman
That brings more bad news for Crown: it won't be able to avoid a higher annual tax bill. She failed to convince the government to give her a break.
Crown signed a A$1 billion ($655 million) royalty and gambling tax deal with the government a decade ago. The agreement is valid for the first 15 years of Crown Sydney's opening.
Paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and delays in the casino's opening led Crown to demand a rewrite of the agreement. The government responded Monday by rejecting the request.
Officials said they were willing to negotiate with Crown to relieve some of the pressure. What this actually means is unclear, given that Crown's footprint is changing rapidly.
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Source: www.casino.org
