The former controlling shareholder of Australia’s Crown Resorts, James Packer, has vowed to never again invest in the casino industry – or to do business in China – after being forced to sell his AU$3.3 billion stake in the company in 2022.
In his first in-depth interview since a series of high-profile inquiries into Crown’s Australian casino operations – which among other areas explored the company’s association with Asian junkets and the 2016 arrests of Crown Resorts staff for the illegal promotion of gambling in mainland China – Packer told recently launched media outlet The Nightly that he was glad to have escaped the pressure of the casino industry and its “obligations to build things”.
