Todd Nisbet, a renowned casino executive who helped shape the Macau developments of both Wynn Resorts and Melco, and later became a key figure at Australia’s Crown Resorts, has passed away suddenly, aged 57.
According to media reports, Nisbet suffered a brain aneurysm in his hometown of Melbourne, where he moved almost two decades ago after being handpicked by then-Crown supremo James Packer to oversee its expansion projects.
One of the original founding members of Wynn Resorts, where he served as Executive Vice President and Project Director for Wynn Design and Development, Nisbet was responsible for all project development and construction operations in Las Vegas and Macau. As such, he was instrumental in the development of both Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Macau – two properties renowned for setting new benchmarks in luxury.
In 2007, Nisbet joined Crown Resorts as Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development, having been recommended to Packer by Steve Wynn himself as someone who could make a difference in helping enter the lucrative Macau casino market. He was subsequently appointed in 2009 to the board of Melco-Crown Entertainment – the joint venture between Packer’s Crown and Lawrence Ho’s Melco International – and played a pivotal role in the company’s development during its formative years.
He was also the Crown representative on Melco-Crown’s City of Dreams Manila venture, helping with project development and funding.
Back in Australia, Nisbet is credited with overseeing the design and construction of Crown Sydney – at that time envisioned as an uber-luxury casino serving the Asian high-roller market.
Although he left Crown in 2021 at the height of the company’s high-profile shaming for its links to those same Asian junkets it was targeting – notably his name was never raised as a key figure during inquiries in New South Wales and Victoria – Nisbet stayed close to Packer and the two later co-founded property development investment entity NPACT. Up until his death, Nisbet was actively working on a raft of new developments across Melbourne and Sydney – projects the company this week vowed to continue in his absence.
In comments reported by the Australian Financial Review, Packer said, “Todd was a star. He was my best employee at Crown, and he carried on that excellence at NPACT. More importantly, he was a dear friend and a special and talented man. His death is a tragedy.”
Nisbet is survived by his three children and wife Pam.
