Ex Ernst & Young Executive Takes Charge of Victoria Casino Regulator
Following several catastrophic breaches of the law within the Australian casino sector, the government have decided to shakeup the leadership of its main regulator. A former executive at the management consultancy firm, Ernst & Young, will take charge at the Victoria Casino Regulator. Annette Kimmitt brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, and the expectation remains that she will oversee structural changes to the way in which the organization handles regulatory enforcement across the region.
The new leadership at the Victoria Casino Regulator brings about the opportunity for meaningful change, a thing that is greatly needed following years of inaction and incompetence. ©Aymanejed/Pixabay
As a trained lawyer, Anette Kimmitt is well tasked and competent to take on the role of leading a regulatory transformation in Australia. As the world witnessed throughout 2021, the investigation into Crown Resorts regulatory breaches laid to bare how ill-prepared and unreactive the regulatory commission had become. They failed to spot clear red flags at Crown Resorts over the course of James Packer’s stewardship, and in effect enabled a cataclysm of money laundering and law breaking to go unchecked.
The new agency was created following an inquest that tried to figure out the specific failings of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation had simply too many things to deal with as part of its day-to-day. Following an extensive selection process which was chaired by the former secretary to the Department of Health, Kimmitt has emerged as the person to lead the reforms. A huge challenge, but undoubtedly a career-defining appointment.
Kimmit has had a brilliant career and her CV impresses at first glance, she held a CEO and managing partner position at MinterEllison, a big law firm situated in Australia prior to joining Ernst & Young as a leader in its Global Growth Markets department. Her time at MinterEllison was cut-short by mutual agreement, by two and half years into a five year contract after she called out the senior leadership at the firm.
Australia Prepares for a New Era of Gaming Oversight
The new agency, Victoria Gambling and Casino Control Commission has been built to learn from the mistakes of its predecessor. The organization that came before the VGCCC clearly was not fit for purpose and failed to stop systemic corruption, criminality and money laundering across the board. In fact, many investigators that worked on the case of Crown Resorts were completely baffled by the delayed inaction taken by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Control. This new commission will be completely and 100% dedicated to designing policies that enable more effective management of the casinos within the industry.
Whilst Crown Resorts was the casino to make the headlines last year, it wasn’t the only entity to breach the rules of the industry. Star Entertainment tripped the line between bending and breaking the rules on several occasions. One allegation accuses managers at Star Entertainment allowing Chinese high-rollers from withdrawing gambling money and masking the transaction as bills for hospitality and hotel expenses.
As China continues to clamp down on the freedom of capital flight on their borders, it will remain unclear whether or not Star Entertainment will be able to recover its gross gambling revenues to pre-pandemic levels. It won’t be easy by any means, as there are numerous difficulties involved in trying to bring about growth whilst the world is in a crisis. Even so, the new regulatory measures will be applied with great interest at Star Entertainment, as the new organization seeks to clean up an industry that has been getting away with breaches for too long.
Another government agency taking great interest in the rule-breaking and ethical missteps across the industry is AUSTRAC, and they also went after Crown Resorts on a more abstract charge of ‘lacking corporate integrity’, which given the evidence is quite a fair assessment. The cascading effect of this investigation has served as a catalyst for the renewed investigations into the financial activities of Star Entertainment.
