Crown

Crown Resorts has confirmed that Xavier Walsh is to depart his position of chief executive officer of Crown Melbourne on August 20, 2021.

However, the casino operator, which last week resumed the gaming operations of its Melbourne property after a range of restrictions were lifted across Victoria, also announced that Walsh will remain available to assist the company until his employment at Crown ends on December 9, 2021. 

Walsh joined Crown in 2008, working on secondment as the chief operating officer of Cannery Casino Resorts, which operated in Nevada and Pennsylvania in the US, before returning to Australia in 2013 to assume the position of chief operating officer of Crown Melbourne. In December 2020, he was appointed as Crown Melbourne CEO

The company says that it will announce an interim appointment for the role of CEO Crown Melbourne following consultation with the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.   

This comes after the Victoria government allocated additional time and funding to the royal commission into the Melbourne operations of the group to investigate “a wider range of matters”.

Commissioner Raymond Finkelstein wrote to James Merlino, Victoria’s acting premier, to request an extension from August 1, 2021, to October 15, 2021, as well as an increase in the Commission’s funding from $10m to $19.75m, which was subsequently granted.

Among the wider range of matters to be investigated include those relating to the corporate culture at the Melbourne property, gambling harm minimisation, and claims brought forward in evidence so far, such as allegations that the venue underpaid casino tax.