Crown Employees in China

Agree, lost a truckload there the other day. Criminals, the lot of them.

Opinions are like a*seholes. Everyone's got one.

這是一個非常中國的線程

Crown should really take the hit and not sell the country out

Ten more held in China hit on Crown Resorts

China’s crackdown on James Packer’s Crown Resorts has widened, with 10 Chinese organisers of junkets licensed by the casino operator to bring high rollers to its Australian properties now believed to be in custody.

A day after 18 Crown employees in China were detained in lightning raids across the country, police moved on 87 Crown customers, inviting them to “take tea” — or present themselves for questioning.

Ten of them, who are organisers of junkets, were detained and ­remain in custody, The Australian understands.

An industry insider said Crown customers were furious that the company’s database was reportedly in the hands of ­Chinese authorities, following their seizure of the

employees’ computers and smartphones during the arrests.

It also emerged yesterday that a Crown executive was warned by a customer based in Shanghai, two weeks before authorities acted, that trouble was brewing. The arrests, in co-ordinated nationwide raids, took place overnight on October 14.

The Crown team had been tracked by authorities for about a year, the insider said.



The surveillance revealed to authorities the amount of money leaving China for gaming tables in Australia, which was the core factor driving the arrests.

The insider said Chinese authorities also knew the details of other casino resort promotion teams in the country, including 12 people working for the Star Entertainment Group, who are believed to have stopped their operations. Most of them are now out of the country, at least temporarily.


While some Chinese junkets are still proceeding in Australia this week, these were arranged before the arrests.

Investors are questioning the outlook for forward bookings with potential customers concerned they too may be targeted by investigators.

It is understood Crown maintains that none of its Australian-based executives was aware of or received any warnings from Chinese authorities before the ­arrests. The company declined to comment yesterday.

Crown’s largest institutional shareholder, Perpetual, revealed last week it had sold more than one-third of its Crown stake.

But substantial shareholder notices lodged by the fund ­manager show it started selling Crown shares in late September and early October at about the $13 mark, before news of the ­arrests.