Crown Resorts hits back at Wilkie’s pokies-tampering claims

Crown Resorts has hit back against the Australian politician who leveled bombshell allegations of gaming device tampering and money laundering against the casino operator this week.

Earlier this week, Independent Senator Andrew Wilkie (pictured left) tabled evidence in parliament from three men claiming to be former staffers at Crown Melbourne, who accused management of illegally tampering with video poker machines (pokies) and helping high-rollers evade the scrutiny of anti-money laundering watchdogs.

Crown’s initial response was simply to reject the allegations, while urging Wilkie to turn over all his evidence to the authorities. But Crown’s executive chairman John Alexander is now pushing back harder in an angry open letter to Wilkie published in weekend newspapers.

In the letter, Alexander (pictured right) said Crown “emphatically” rejected the the “outrageous” and “deeply offensive” allegations and stated that “any employee found breaching our codes and practices would face severe disciplinary consequences.”