In Australia and prominent casino operator Crown Resorts Limited has reportedly been ordered to immediately stop using junket firms in order to help lure high-value foreign players to its Crown Perth facility.

According to a Wednesday report from the online news domain at News.com.au, the command from the Gaming and Wagering Commission of Western Australia follows an earlier decision by the gaming regulator for New South Wales not to grant the firm a casino license for its new Crown Sydney development. The source detailed that this latter judgment came after a wide-ranging investigation by the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority determined that the company’s previous junket partners could have potentially committed a slew of money laundering offenses.

Fresh provisions:

The news domain reported that Crown Resorts Limited, which is also responsible for the giant Crown Melbourne property in the southern state of Victoria, used an official Wednesday statement to explain that the Gaming and Wagering Commission of Western Australia has now placed a range of new conditions on the casino license for its Perth property including one that forbids it from utilizing overseas junket operators altogether.

Lucrative resource:

A staple in many Asian gambling markets such as Macau and Singapore, junket firms reportedly receive a commission for promoting overseas casinos to wealthy gamblers and moreover subsequently often handle such individuals’ travel, accommodation and foreign banking or credit needs. These VIP-facing enterprises have purportedly helped operators such as Crown Resorts Limited to boost their gambling revenues even in the face of never-ending rumors concerning their alleged links to organized crime syndicates.

Supplementary constraints:

News.com.au reported that the revised rules from the Gaming and Wagering Commission of Western Australia now furthermore forbid the 1,196-room Crown Perth from participating in any overseas junket program or allowing certain foreign travelers to gamble while under any analogous arrangements.

Victoria examination:

In related news and the Premier for Victoria, Daniel Andrews, reportedly revealed on Monday that the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation is to conduct a ‘narrow’ review of its own into the casino license suitability of Crown Resorts Limited. Despite criticism that this inquiry has been slow to materialize following the determination by regulators in neighboring New South Wales, the 48-year-old Labour politician nevertheless purportedly declared that the upcoming probe will seek to determine if the Melbourne-headquartered company is committed to ‘the highest standards’ and whether it is fit to run a casino in the nation’s second most populated state.