Packers Use Fine Print to Avoid Gambling on Casino Purchase
The owners of Millennium Gaming are threatening to sue Australia's Crown Casinos and the family that controls them. Millennium says the Packer family is using a minor step in Pennsylvania regulatory requirements to avoid fulfilling a contract to purchase three casinos and the management contract of another gambling venue.
Millennium had agreed to sell its two Cannery Casinos, the operation of another, and the Meadows Racetrack and Casino outside Pittsburgh for an estimated $1.75 billion. But casino values have plummeted in the year since the deal was arranged, and Crown is not so eager to complete the sale.
Enter Gretel Packer, sister of James Packer and co-heir of the fortune behind Crown Casinos. Pennsylvania regulators have asked for financial disclosures on Gretel and the Packer trusts, as well as James, for licensing applications. But Gretel asserts she is not party to the sale agreement.
Therefore, her lawyers argue, she is under no obligation to comply with the regulators, and can withdraw from the licensing process, effectively ending the transaction.
Millennium has said the excuse was the result of "collusion with Crown as a pretext for reneging on the purchase agreement." The gambling operator feels that Gretel's actions are a flimsy ploy to escape what has become an unfavorable business arrangement.
