But the $2.2 billion Sydney project,which includes a luxury hotel and residences,has been plagued by setbacks including delays to its conditional gaming licence and the disruption of COVID-19.
In August,a year after opening,it was forced to close one of its two VIP gaming floors and axe 93 jobs due to low foot traffic amid a dearth of international high-rollers. Last week,Crown Resorts posted a $199.4 million loss for the financial year across its operations.
Crown is seeking to rewrite the NSW tax guarantee,arguing the economic and regulatory environments have changed,its business has suffered significant negative impacts and the 10-year-old agreement is no longer fit for purpose.
Crown,bought by US private equity giant Blackstone last year,says its business model has also evolved to exclude unlicensed junket operators,that international visitation and discretionary spending remain depressed and that compliance costs have increased.
The Barangaroo casino arose from an unsolicited proposal by Crown Resorts under then chairman James Packer,accepted by the Coalition government in 2013. The agreement,summaries of which are available online,commits Crown to a “start-up guarantee” and a “baseline guarantee”.
The start-up guarantee says that over the first three years of operation,the aggregate of gaming taxes paid by Crown and The Star will be at least three times the gaming taxes paid by The Star in the year before Crown opened.