New Crown Resorts boss Ciarán Carruthers settles into his ‘perfect’ job but warns it won’t be an overnight fix

Crown Resorts chief executive Ciarán Carruthers has declared his new job “a perfect fit” but warns that the restoration of the tarnished gaming and hospitality group’s reputation will take time. Speaking for the first time since taking the reins of Crown on Monday, Mr Carruthers said that with new bosses taking control of its Perth, Melbourne and Sydney properties, he would focus on rehabilitating the group and fixing its culture. “I’m not saying it won’t be challenging or that it won’t be difficult, there is a lot of heavy lifting, there’s a lot of hard work, but we have the right experience and skill sets to get it done,” the former Macau resorts chief told thewest.com.au. “But the area that is going to take up almost the entirety of my focus is going to be the remediation and transformation, particularly the cultural transformation,” he said. “We will be the gold standard.” Mr Carruthers has joined a company that was found unfit to hold its casino licences by three damning State inquiries because of “disgraceful” conduct that was deemed “variously illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative”. While the casinos have been allowed to remain open under Crown’s new owner, US private equity group Blackstone, they will be overseen for two years by State-appointed special managers to ensure the inquiries’ recommendations are implemented. Mr Carruthers says he is unconcerned by the extra layer of scrutiny, pointing out that as the chief operating officer of the Wynn Macau gaming and hotels complex, he had been obliged to deal with different regulatory regimes across Asia and North America. “Multi-jurisdictional regulatory oversight is something I’m very familiar with,” he said. “The evolution of the regulatory framework here across three States is something I will continue to work with the regulators on, and I had very good conversations with them yesterday.” An Irishman with Australian residency whose family has lived in Australia for the past 20 years, Mr Carruthers has three decades of experience at gaming resorts in South-East Asia, the Philippines and the US Pacific Islands. He described the Crown job as “an incredible opportunity for me personally and professionally”, reuniting him in Melbourne with his family but also offering him the challenge of a lifetime at a group now benefiting from Australia’s emergence from COVID-19 and boasting expansion opportunities in Perth and elsewhere. “It was a perfect fit, it doesn’t get any better than this,” said Mr Carruthers, who was first sounded out about the role by Crown’s new chairman, former Cosmopolitan Las Vegas boss Bill McBeath. “He said all the right things about the commitment I was going to get from the board, the direction in which they want to go and how they want to rebuilt this company,” he said. “It’s my show to run, it’s my job here to turn this business into what it needs to be.” Mr Carruthers said Crown’s State bosses would also be empowered to run their businesses. The appointment of a new chief executive of Crown Perth, the city’s biggest single-site employer, is believed to be imminent. In the meantime, former HBF chief executive John Van Der Wielen, who was put into Crown Perth as non-executive chairman as part of Blackstone’s overhaul of Crown’s management and State boards, is helping oversee the local complex. Blackstone is already looking at expanding the riverside property’s hospitality offering as well as opportunities to develop its land bank and main open-air car park. Crown Perth’s casino, hotels and bars were an important earnings contributor for Crown when its flagship Melbourne complex was restricted by lockdowns during the pandemic. Mr Carruthers said the post-virus trading across the group was looking “very promising, particularly in Perth” where hospitality was showing “really good numbers”. “And from my couple of days here in Melbourne, the place is pumping, there’s a great energy and a great vibe across the gaming floors, the restaurants and the entertainment space”.