O’Connor, colleagues held
The Chinese government will hold a group of Crown Resorts employees for at least another month at a detention center in Shanghai. The 18 employees, including three Australians and 15 Chinese residents working for James Packer’s company, were rounded up last October during overnight raids in some four cities in Mainland China.
The employees included Vice President of International VIP Operations Jason O’Connor. They were accused of “gambling-related crimes,” but formal charges have yet to be filed.
Direct promotion and marketing of gaming in China is illegal, and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail. In 2015, global operators were warned to abide by the rules, but O’Connor and his team continued to ply their trade on the mainland. More than a third of Crown’s revenue at its Australian resorts comes from international visitors, predominantly those from Mainland Chinese, reported Bloomberg.
A spokeswoman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that “the investigation period has been extended by one month.”
According to the Australian, Packer has announced he will focus on domestic operations in the future. In recent months the company has reduced its stake in Macau casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment and also pulled out of a casino project planned for the Las Vegas Strip.
The arrests have “injected deep uncertainty into several gambling companies operating in China,” the publication reported.
