Australian national Jerry Xuan was among 10 Crown Casino staff released from prison in China today. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
CHINA has released 10 employees of Australian casino giant Crown Resorts, the first of 16 who were detained in October and sentenced in June for gambling crimes.
Four employees, including Australian national Jerry Xuan, emerged from a Shanghai detention facility on Wednesday accompanied by family members and security officials.
A Reuters reporter at the scene said they left immediately in cars without speaking to the media.
The Chinese New Year celebrations begin at the end of January or the start of February each year and run for a week. With live music, food stalls, parades and fireworks; the Chinese New Year is a great family event to celebrate together. Feb 07, 2016 Crown Melbourne Lunar Chinese New Year 2017 Fireworks - Duration: 21:27. Melbourne Site Hunters 223 views.
Another six were released from a second facility in the city, said a man who identified himself as a lawyer for the families and who declined to give his name.
“Everything went OK,” a family member of one of the employees told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Billionaire James Packer. Picture: Justin ChinSource:Supplied
A total of 19 employees were detained as Crown was trying to attract high-spending Chinese to its casinos outside China, where gambling is illegal except in the territory of Macau.
A court jailed 16 of them, including three Australians for nine to 10 months, backdated to their October detention.
Graeme Meehan, Consul-General of Australia in Shanghai, gives a statement after leaving last month. Crown Casino court case. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
Crown will pay a fine of $1.67 million issued to the staff.
Shares in Crown Resorts plummeted to a year-low of $9.71 after the news of the detention of the staff members.
There were fears they could be accused of money laundering, which carries up to a ten-year sentence — but it emerged last month that they would face the less serious charge of promoting gambling on China’s mainland, where betting and the promotion of it are illegal.
A van carrying jailed Crown employees leaves court last month. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
Overseas casinos have been playing a risky game for several years in order to tap into the lucrative Chinese VIP market.
They usually rely on “junkets” — middlemen exploiting a legal grey area that allows them to promote a resort’s hotels and facilities — to entice wealthy customers, but some later began sending their own staff.
Tourism Australia's giga selfie - Sydney Chinese New Year
This is how a Chinese New Year "Giga selfie" will look - taken from Circular Quay by a camera set up a kilometre away.
TOURISM operators risk missing out on a huge chunk of Chinese visitor spending by not doing more to attract the cashed-up tourists in July and August.
Last year, Chinese arrivals in July were second only in number to the Lunar New Year influx in February — and a similar result is expected this year.
Research provided by Tourism Australia reflected the trend, showing two clear peaks in February-March and midyear.
Shopping up a storm. Chinese Tourist Ren Jiajunren does some shopping around the Crown Casino Complex in Melbourne. Picture: News Corp AustraliaSource:News Corp Australia
Chinese cultural expert CT Johnson said this year, an estimated $700 million would be spent by Chinese tourists in July and August on souvenirs, cosmetics, luxury items, clothing and pharmaceuticals.
He said retailers could increase their chances of attracting some of those dollars by adding Chinese writing to their window display to alert tourists they were “Chinese-friendly”.
“The reason they’re coming in July and August is because of school holidays for the kids,” Mr Johnson said.
“Chinese folks are increasingly getting paid time-off with the kids and Australia remains one of their top aspirational destinations.”
Pulling out all stops. July is only second to Chinese New Year in terms of visitor numbers down under. Picture: Katherine Griffiths/City of SydneySource:Supplied
A report authored by Mr Johnson titled Chinese Tourist Spending Habits said Australian store managers typically felt they did not know what the visitors wanted or how to get their attention, and they didn’t understand how they made their buying decisions.
“Almost no-one is doing any advertising towards Chinese tourists for the July-August period,” said Mr Johnson.
“All the retailers gear up for Christmas because they know shoppers are going to be out there spending, so they are fighting for more of the consumers’ attention.
“The same thing should be happening in July and August for Chinese tourists.”
But Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan said peak periods, such as July, were not the time to be discounting and putting special deals on the table.
Winning. Business owner John Jiang is having success with Chinese visitors to Cairns. Picture: Justin BriertySource:News Corp Australia
“Our whole strategy is built around yield,” said Mr O’Sullivan.
“In peak times, you maintain that premium and maintain your yield.”
He said the key factors for operators included being “language ready, providing free Wi-Fi and China Union payment options”.
“We’re starting to get the industry more and more educated about the market, but it’s very complex and changing so rapidly,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
Crown Casino Chinese New Year Market City 2019 Honolulu
“It was predominantly a group market, now it’s a Free Independent Traveller market.”
Crown Casino Chinese New Year Market Germany
Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed 1.17 million Chinese people travelled down under in the year to April, up 23.3 per cent on the previous year.
Crown Casino Chinese New Year Market Fair
More than 600,000 of those visited New South Wales, 531,536 travelled to Victoria and 442,346 went to Queensland.