Crown Resorts marketing executive Michael Chen, who reportedly was on “permanent leave” following the detention last year of 18 Crown employees in Mainland China, is no longer with the company.
According to the Australian Financial Review, Chen was “the architect of Crown Resorts’ push into China,” a strategy that allegedly went afoul of Chinese law by trying to lure high-rolling gamblers to casinos Down Under.
AFR reported that Chen left the casino group in a “clean-out of top management.” Of the 18 Crown employees originally detained, 15 remain behind bars in a Shanghai detention center. They have been charged with “gambling-related crimes.”
Chen’s LinkedIn page indicates he left Crown in March after more than five years as the president of international marketing. Others on the outs at the Australian casino operator include Robert Rankin, who stepped down as Crown chairman in January, and CEO Rowen Craigie who left the firm in late February.
Chen joined Crown from Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas in February 2012. He developed the team on the mainland whose job was to bring high rollers to Crown casinos in Melbourne and Perth. “He was the guy more than anyone who drove those in China for targets and pushed them to collect debts,” said one source.
On LinkedIn, Chen described himself as “fanatic about results,” and said in his role at Crown he “conceived of and led transformation to modernize and professionalize high-end integrated resort sales and marketing. Initiatives have yielded four consecutive years of record results.” Chen also said he was responsible for over $1 billion in revenue. The profile made no mention of the staff detentions in China.
Macau casino consultant Ben Lee said Chen was “very ambitious” in his plans for attracting Chinese VIPs. “He obviously had a very high target to meet to justify his appointment, and he in turn went on a very expensive program to recruit just about anybody and everybody he could in terms of on-the-ground marketing experience,” said Lee. “He went through Macau, Hong Kong, China, even down to Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and recruited a very, very big team of people.”
