The Chief Commissioner of the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC), Phil Crawford, will step down and retire from public service in November, the regulator has announced.
Crawford and fellow Commissioner Stephen Parbery will depart the NICC together, having both joined as founding members upon the commission’s establishment in 2022 in the wake of the Bergin Inquiry into Crown Sydney.
The NICC noted that their terms had been due to finish on 24 May 2026 but have been extended a further six months to ensure important remediation work at The Star Sydney is continued under the casino’s new ownership team and to provide a smooth transition to the new commissioners.
While Crawford has overseen the rehabilitation of Crown in the wake of the Bergin Inquiry, his position as chief commissioner of the NICC hasn’t been without criticism given that he was also head of the NICC’s predecessor – the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) – and therefore in charge of the regulator when serious compliance transgressions took place at The Star Sydney.
Despite this, the NICC said Thursday that Crawford was immensely proud of the work he had achieved across the two leadership roles after first being appointed by the NSW Government in 2016.
This, it noted, has included commissioning three complex casino inquiries – Bergin (Crown), Bell One and Bell Two (both into Star) – and driving the reform of the NSW casinos, which has involved the “elimination of high-roller junkets, the obliteration of pronounced criminal activity and introduction of more scrutinized gambling harm protections.”
Crawford said, “Together with our fellow commissioners, Stephen Parbery and I have worked tirelessly to power substantial and long-lasting reform across the NSW casino industry which has crucially lifted governance, compliance, financial crime prevention and harm minimization standards.
“The results speak for themselves, with the casinos both recording a considerable reduction in criminal activity and gambling harms. There is no doubt NSW casinos are substantially safer and operate in a much more stable environment than they did prior to the inception of the NICC in 2022.”
Parbery added that the NICC’s approach to casino reform was now being mirrored by regulators in other jurisdictions all over the world.
“NSW is now recognized internationally for its contemporary approach to casino regulation and continues to attract interest from both interstate and international regulators seeking to better understand the important reforms we have worked hard to accomplish,” Parbery said.
“We are incredibly optimistic about the NSW casino industry and the regulatory landscape we are handing over.”
The regulator said the NSW Government is now conducting an expression of interest process to fill the two commissioner roles.
RelatedPosts
