Yesterday Crown Resorts celebrated its 30th Birthday, marking three decades as one of Australia's largest and most iconic entertainment groups. In a bold midnight launch, Crown first opened on 30 June 1994 at Melbourne's Galleria World Trade Centre, with 2,500 team members welcoming 30,000 guests on opening night. Three years later, the flagship property relocated to its permanent home in Southbank, with a 1.6-billion-dollar build spanning 550,000 square metres, injecting thousands of jobs and millions of dollars into the economy. With resorts now in Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney, Crown has grown to become the home to some of the country's most iconic and memorable cultural moments, from Elton John in 1994 to Taylor Swift's mania in 2024. To mark the occasion, we have created a content series to relive some of the most exciting and memorable moments from the past three decades of Crown Resorts. The series will feature some of Australia's most well-known icons who have walked through our doors, as well as our loyal guests and talented workforce. The first episode features entertainer Rhonda Burchmore and Crown Melbourne's Events & Entertainment Executive, Emma Chapman. We look forward to sharing these stories with you over the coming months.
I was there on the opening night, 30 June 1994. The queues were staggering for weeks and months -- not only to get in the building but just to find a seat on a blackjack table -- my game at the time. Crown has gone through many iterations in those 30 years and of the 200+ casinos I've visited and written about around the world, Crown has probably been the most influential for me, with the possible exception of Wrest Point in the very early days. I lived at Southbank Towers, on the diagonally opposite corner to the Mahogany Room for quite a few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, just because it was so close to Crown. Crown has influenced Melbourne in so many ways. And it's been through so much. At times, it's been arrogant, even almost evil, and at times it's been benevolent, and even charitable to the community in which it lives. I'm very proud of the job they have done in their remediation in the last 2 to 3 years under CEO Ciarán Carruthers. Blackstone still has quite a way to go to return Crown to a stable and profitable business, but Crown has certainly turned the corner from its bad acting past and is on a positive journey! Congratulations on 30 years and best of luck to Crown and all its people. I hope you make it.
In the last 30 years, Crown Melbourne has had three different owners and been regulated by five(!) different casino and gaming regulators. (For those playing along at home, the sequence of regulators has been the Victorian Casino Control Authority, the Victorian Casino and Gaming Authority, the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, and the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission.)
Congratulations to Crown Resorts for an amazing achievement of 30 years. I was their on opening night Employee #1523 and it was completely standing room only. My beginnings at Crown lead me from the casino cage to a 5 game croupier and then onto gaming supervisor in the exclusive mahogany room supervising Baccarat games with a maximum bet of half a million dollars and these games were huge. The experience of guest relations and gaming lead me to travel the world on Holland America and Carnival cruise lines and also working on a small island called tinian with Ciarán Carruthers. Great bonding friendships have been made and continue today.
Congratulations Crown. On the backing of Nigel’s’ post, Crown took Melbourne from Zero to Hero, not to mention igniting what was the most dynamic and sought after international gaming destination for decades. Thank you Crown for helping me find my calling.
I remember how exciting it was, that opening weekend in June 1994...great staff and ambience ...One of the most memorable moments was the bomb scare we had in those early years ..and Kerry packer in the casino ... it was the first of its kind ..
Partner St Lewis Capital
4moCongratulations Crown. As one of the first employees back in 1994 and then as Chairman of Crown Melbourne in 2021-2022 - it’s been an amazing journey. Back in 1993 Melbourne/ Victoria was a basket case. Everyone was leaving for Queensland. Jeff Kennett and Crown, lead by Lloyd and Ron, with the taxes and licence fees it paid, the jobs it created, the redevelopment of the south side of the Yarra that was an industrial wasteland…. and the anazing tourism destination it created for Melbourne, for tourists and Melbournians, saved Melboune. Let’s not loose sight of what amazing developments can do for our city.