This profit motive"may have blinkered"some at the ASX-listed company to the rising risks of being caught out by authorities in China,where promoting or facilitating gambling is illegal,he said.
Mr O’Connor was the most senior of 19 Crown staff arrested in co-ordinated raids across China in October 2016 and spent 10 months imprisoned in a Shanghai jail. He is now working on the opening of Crown Sydney.
The NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority's inquiry is investigating whether senior Crown executives and its board knew staff were breaking the law in China as it considers whether the company is a suitable licence holder for its new Sydney casino.
The inquiry heard that,after the Chinese government announced a crackdown on foreign casinos promoting gambling on mainland soil,another VIP executive Howard Aldridge wrote to Mr O’Connor in February 2015 asking if they should be concerned about their China-based staff.
Mr O’Connor responded that he was"very concerned"about the near-term prospects of their business team but that their"challenge would be convincing our masters that they need to temper their expectations".
"With the development plans ahead,talk of conservative expectations won’t be well received,"he wrote. Under questioning,Mr O'Connor said the"development plans"was a reference to Crown’s new Sydney casino,which it planned to rely heavily on ultra-wealthy Chinese higher rollers.
"I thought at the time there was something of a disconnect between the business volumes and profits our business unit was able to deliver relevant to what was expected,"he told the inquiry.