James Packer, the chairman of casinos owner Crown, has blasted the federal government’s proposed gambling reforms, saying they will result in the loss of jobs and investment in the gaming sector and hurt state government revenues.
Crown owns the Crown Casino in Melbourne and the Burswood Casino in Perth, plus interests in casinos overseas.
Mr Packer said on Thursday that the proposed poker machine reforms would not tackle problem gambling.
The proposed reforms include a mandatory pre-commitment system, under which players will set an upper limit on how much they are prepared to lose before they commence play.
They might also include a maximum bet limit of $1 on “low-intensity” poker machines.
“In my view, there is no evidence that introducing mandatory pre-commitment or introducing a $1 maximum bet will be effective in tackling problem gambling,” Mr Packer told shareholders at Crown’s annual general meeting.
“But it will hurt recreational players and that will cost jobs and investment across the industry and cost the state government tax revenue used for essential community services.”
“It’s not enough to identify the right problem. We need the right solution.”
Mr Packer said Crown did not have an issue with the federal government taking action against problem gambling.
Crown had always been concerned about problem gambling and was prepared to do more.
“I believe no one in this country, or, in fact, in the worldwide casino industry, has done more to address problem gambling,” Mr Packer said.
The proposed changes would affect Crown’s customers, employees and shareholders, and governments at state and federal level that receive the company’s tax revenue.
Mr Packer said Crown paid tax of $680 million in the 2010/11 financial year, double its net profit of $340 million.
Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie said the proposed changes would only defer problem gambling as players who hit their pre-commitment limit return to play again after their “lockout” period expires.
He said a more personalised approach was needed to address problem gambling, rather than hoping that a central computer would automatically solve the problem.
Mandatory pre-commitment would also deter the very high number of recreational and occasional poker machine players from any pre-commitment because they would not want to stand in queues to register to play and may not wish to provide details of their identity.
Mr Craigie said the federal government had not assessed the likely effect of mandatory pre-commitment on the playing behaviour of problem or recreational gamblers.
“Neither has there been any attempt to quantify the impact on revenue, employment or investment in the industry or its many stakeholders,” Mr Craigie said.
Mr Craigie said that revenue in the first 16 weeks of the financial year from the main gaming floors at Crown Melbourne and Burswood, excluding play from high-rollers, was up 3.5 per cent on the prior corresponding period.
Non-gaming revenue had grown 8.1 per cent.
“Crown retains a cautious outlook for our domestic business given the general softening in consumer sentiment and recognises the need to carefully manage the continuing disruption to its customers from the redevelopment and refurbishment programs,” Mr Craigie said.
“VIP program play activity across the two Australian casinos has been encouraging since the start of the new financial year with double-digit revenue growth over the first 16 weeks compared to the same period last year, albeit at a lower margin.”
