Blackstone underestimated size of Crown Resorts challenge: chairman

afr.com:

The chairman of Crown Resorts says US investment giant Blackstone underestimated the amount of work that would be required to transform the casino giant’s culture and systems following years of scandal, but is confident it is on track to regain its licences early next year.

Veteran US casino executive Bill McBeath, who previously ranThe Cosmopolitan resort in Las Vegas under Blackstone’s ownership, said Crown chief executive Ciaran Carruthers and his team had “stripped the business down to the studs from a compliance and procedural standpoint” to win back its licences in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia.

Crown CEO Ciaran Carruthers and chairman Bill McBeath at Crown’s Melbourne resort.  Elke Meitzel

Blackstone, which has $US1 trillion ($1.6 trillion) under management, completed its acquisition of Crown in June 2022 for $8.9 billion, after the company was mired in scandals that saw it subjected to two separate royal commissions and an independent inquiry in NSW.

“What we have gone through as an organisation is unprecedented in terms of the scope and scale needed for remediation and transformation on the road to suitability,” Mr McBeath said in an interview with The Australian Financial Review at Crown’s Melbourne property.

“Did we underestimate it? Yes. Is the body of work larger than we thought it was going to be? Absolutely.”

While Crown launched a new brand strategy this week, Mr McBeath said most of the work at the group since Blackstone completed its acquisition in June 2022 had occurred away from the public eye, including work on rebuilding its systems and processes in areas including compliance, anti-money laundering and responsible gaming.

The company has also been operating under strict regulatory