Crown CEO: only $8m owed in gaming taxes

A week of turning-point testimony by top Crown Resorts officials to a Victorian gaming commission in Australia turned emotional on Tuesday as the company’s new CEO took the stand.

Steve McCann, who joined the company in June, admitted that the company had likely underpaid the tax it owed the government.

However, the CEO suggested the amount due was closer to AU$8m, as compared to the AU$272m the company allegedly avoided paying by handing it out through its pokies loyalty programme.

However, he stated the company was working with two possible figures and that Crown would pay the government the higher of the two, plus interest, before discussing if another, higher repayment was required.

During the testimony, McCann stated that he is working more than 14 hours per day trying to reconstruct the company’s reputation, but that it is “simply not possible” for one person to transform Crown, according to reports.

The executive described the fact that he wasn’t informed by Melbourne Crown about the possible underpayment for a week was “disappointing”, but also “accidental”, saying the information they had provided was what “they thought was relevant.”

McCann claims he only learned of the Crown underpayment via media reports.

Source: Asia Gaming Brief