{"id":166026,"date":"2021-03-02T12:08:54","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T20:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=166026"},"modified":"2021-03-02T13:27:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T21:27:35","slug":"crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Resorts Hit with Negative Outlook by Moody’s as Regulatory Scrutiny Mounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The outlook on Crown Resorts’ credit rating has been revised lower to \u201cnegative\u201d by Moody’s Investors Service, as the Australian gaming company faces increasing regulatory pressure in its home country.<\/p>\n

\"Crown
James Packer, Crown Resorts’ largest shareholder. Moody’s put a negative outlook on the firm’s credit rating. (Image: The Australian<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ratings agency issued the new outlook on Monday. This is the same day Crown Perth Chairman John Poynton left the company. Poynton is the third James Packer loyalist<\/a> to depart the casino operator over the past several months, following Michael Johnston and Guy Jalland.<\/p>\n

In a report issued last month, former New South Wales Supreme Court Judge Patricia Bergin lobbed criticism at Packer’s looming influence at Crown, although the billionaire hasn’t occupied a board seat since 2018. She noted director appointments to those loyal to him made the board less independent and represented conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n

Monday’s call for the \u201cnegative\u201d outlook ends a periodic review of Crown initiated by Moody’s last November.<\/p>\n

“The rating confirmation reflects our view that Crown has good potential to maintain its investment grade credit profile, and is willing and able to remediate shortcomings identified by the Bergin Inquiry in New South Wales, as well as any additional shortcomings that may be identified by regulatory investigations in other states,\u201d says analyst Maadhavi Barber.<\/p>\n

Barber adds the negative outlook is born out of the fact that the steps Crown needs to take to reach suitability to operate a Sydney integrated resort are \u201cfar-reaching and complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Suitability Pressure<\/h2>\n

Crown recently opened the $1.7 billion Crown Sydney. But regulators in New South Wales (NSW) found the company unfit for licensing<\/a> in that region following a broad report on the operator’s slack anti-money laundering practices.<\/p>\n

\n

The hits didn’t stop there. Last month, officials in Western Australia and the Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC) initiated a probe into the operator’s suitability to run<\/a> the Crown Perth Casino. There’s potential vulnerability there, because the Bergin Inquiry highlights transgressions at Crown’s properties in Melbourne and Perth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cCrown is the subject of a number of other investigations. The State of Victoria is holding a Royal Commission into Crown’s suitability to hold its Melbourne gaming license, and the Gaming and Wagering Commission of Western Australia has recommended an independent inquiry regarding Crown Perth’s operations,\u201d said the research firm. \u201cNevertheless, Moody’s notes that the adverse findings of the Bergin Inquiry are in connection with Crown’s pre-existing operations in Victoria and Western Australia, and the rating agency therefore expects that findings and recommendations from the other inquiries will be largely in line with those of the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) Inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moody’s adds financial burdens related to the inquiries are likely to be \u201cincremental,\u201d and that the gaming company is already taking steps to address shortcomings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ability to Absorb Penalties<\/h2>\n

Compounding Crown’s myriad woes<\/a> is that the company is also facing an investigation by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). The silver lining for Crown is that it has the financial capacity to deal with fines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf fines were to be levied, Moody’s estimates Crown can absorb a fine of around 30 percent of estimated fiscal 2022 revenues and retain financial buffers consistent with its current rating,\u201d<\/strong> said Moody’s.<\/p>\n

The research firm adds that even in a worst-case scenario where Crown loses gaming licenses, it can still generate earnings via non-gaming properties, and earn rental income by leasing its casino spaces to other operators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The outlook on Crown Resorts’ credit rating has been revised lower to \u201cnegative\u201d by Moody’s Investors Service, as the Australian gaming company faces increasing regulatory pressure in its home country. The ratings agency issued the new outlook on Monday. This is the same day Crown Perth Chairman John Poynton left the company. Poynton is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":166029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,62],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCrown Resorts Debt Outlook Lowered to Negative by Moody's<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Crown Resorts' rating outlook was dropped to negative, but Moody's sees avenues for the company to deal with regulatory pressure.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crown Resorts Debt Outlook Lowered to Negative by Moody's\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crown Resorts' rating outlook was dropped to negative, but Moody's sees avenues for the company to deal with regulatory pressure.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-02T20:08:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-02T21:27:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/packer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/\",\"name\":\"Crown Resorts Debt Outlook Lowered to Negative by Moody's\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/packer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-02T20:08:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-02T21:27:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Crown Resorts' rating outlook was dropped to negative, but Moody's sees avenues for the company to deal with regulatory pressure.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/packer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/packer.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"James Packer, Crown Resorts' largest shareholder. Moody's put a negative outlook on the firm's credit rating. (Image: The Australian)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Crown Resorts Hit with Negative Outlook by Moody’s as Regulatory Scrutiny Mounts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Crown Resorts Debt Outlook Lowered to Negative by Moody's","description":"Crown Resorts' rating outlook was dropped to negative, but Moody's sees avenues for the company to deal with regulatory pressure.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Crown Resorts Debt Outlook Lowered to Negative by Moody's","og_description":"Crown Resorts' rating outlook was dropped to negative, but Moody's sees avenues for the company to deal with regulatory pressure.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-03-02T20:08:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-02T21:27:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/packer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/","name":"Crown Resorts Debt Outlook Lowered to Negative by Moody's","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/packer.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-02T20:08:54+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-02T21:27:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Crown Resorts' rating outlook was dropped to negative, but Moody's sees avenues for the company to deal with regulatory pressure.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/packer.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/packer.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"James Packer, Crown Resorts' largest shareholder. Moody's put a negative outlook on the firm's credit rating. (Image: The Australian)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/crown-resorts-debt-outlook-lowered-to-negative-by-moodys\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Crown Resorts Hit with Negative Outlook by Moody’s as Regulatory Scrutiny Mounts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}