James Packer’s weekend interview on the Rampart Talks podcast is one of the more absurd pieces of billionaire self-pity we’ve encountered in a while.
On the podcast, Packer unloads to host and friend, Joe Aston, about his loathing for former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Calling him “human filth” and accusing Andrews of personally trying to destroy the casino industry, he goes further in claiming that Andrews’ last-minute tax changes during the Crown sale “almost ruined my life”, because it could have derailed the $8.9 billion sale of Crown to Blackstone. (Side note: It didn’t. The sale still went ahead).
Packer similarly whines about the regulators who removed the casino licences of both Crown and its Sydney rival Star Entertainment, suggesting there was greater leniency for Star.
But the greater mind-boggle in all of this is Packer’s genuine appeal for public sympathy. Because of course our concern should extend to a reckless billionaire’s minor financial setback, and not the catastrophic harm the gambling industry wreaks on ordinary Australians, nor the egregious misconduct Crown was found to have committed under Packer’s watch.
Crown was never unfairly persecuted by the government, it was simply exposed for conduct that was illegal and exploitative. The Victorian royal commission found the company facilitated money laundering, enabled illicit transactions through China UnionPay cards, allowed patrons to gamble continuously for more than 24 hours, evaded state taxes, and failed spectacularly in its duty of care.
It copped an $80 million fine for the illegal card scheme, a $120 million fine for failing to protect vulnerable patrons, and hundreds of millions more for anti-money-laundering breaches.
When Packer describes the “trauma” of the Crown sale yet notes that he was fortunate to have a “good psychologist and a good psychiatrist,” the disconnect becomes truly ridiculous.
Millions of Australians affected by gambling harm will never have access to that kind of care. The Grattan Institute recently reported “extreme-fee-charging” in which psychiatrists may charge around $670 for a single consultation. The notion of easily affording long term psychiatric support is as mythical as James Packer’s morality for most Australians.
And adequate mental health support is tip of the iceberg in what is needed to address the seismic societal chasms that the gambling industry creates.
Around three million Australians experience gambling-related harm every year. Hundreds of thousands meet the definition of problem gamblers. Billions are lost annually in Victoria alone, not just in financial terms, but in relationships, trust, safety, livelihoods and mental health. Families fracture. Domestic violence rises. Suicidal ideation is far more common among people experiencing gambling harm or partnered with someone who is. These are the real, measurable impacts of the industry Packer defends.
The reality is that regulators are doing the bare minimum to curb an industry that profits most heavily from the most vulnerable.
Paradoxically, the greatest stressor in James Packer’s story seems to be that the Crown sale might have been less profitable because of a tax adjustment. There was no job loss, no housing insecurity, no violence. The fact he feels emboldened enough to share his personal hardship against the backdrop of the hellfire he’s inflicted upon so many Australians is genuinely staggering.
Packer’s interview is ultimately a case study in what happens when immense wealth insulates someone from reality for so long that they forget what actual people go through and what actual harm is. In this case, it’s also about forgetting the fact that you’re the one who’s inflicted that harm.