A number of Crown Resorts employees who were jailed in China for “gambling crimes” have reportedly been released.
Reuters says 10 of 16 employees who were detained in October and sentenced in June were released from two detention facilities in Shanghai on Wednesday.
Comment is being sought from Crown Resorts.
Nineteen Crown Resorts staff, including three Australians, pleaded guilty in June to “gambling crimes”.
Australian Jason O’Connor was sentenced to 10 months in jail and compatriots Jerry Xuan and Pan Dan each received nine months. All 19 have been detained since October and their sentences will reflect time served.
Sixteen of the 19 defendants were fined a total of 8.62m yuan (A$1.67m), which Crown said it would pay.
Casino gambling and promoting gambling is banned in China. Organising a group of more than 10 Chinese for gambling trips is also illegal, although businesses often skirt these rules by offering tour packages instead. The former Portuguese colony of Macau is the only place on Chinese soil where casino gambling is permitted.
China is in the midst of a crackdown on the promotion of gambling on the island of Macau, where Crown’s joint venture hosted businessmen, officials and high rollers from the mainland.
For several years, foreign casinos have been engaged in an increasingly high-stakes race to lure the lucrative Chinese VIP market, skirting Chinese law that strictly forbids the promotion of gambling.
Since the detentions, Crown has scaled back its Chinese ambitions, selling down its stake in the Macau-based joint venture Melco Crown, before offloading its final stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment for $987m.
• Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
