A New South Wales (NSW) court recently ruled against Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd. and ordered the casino giant to hand over legally-privileged documents to the government. The documents are related to the sustainability of a Crown Resorts’ gaming license which comes after a regulatory probe in the state. Now, Melco will have to hand over the documents to the government or appeal to the High Court of Australia.

What is Melco trying to do?

The casino operator recently said that it is working on preventing the perspective of keeping the documented mentioned by the court. They are related to the acquisition of a 9.9% stake in Crown Resorts. Now that the Supreme Court had judged in favor of the government, the company will be forced to produce records.

Note that the Supreme Court ruled in the casino giant’s favor in February of this year. It said that the company cannot be forced to produce legally privileged documents to the gambling regulator of the state- the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority. After an appeal, the court has now decided that the regulator has the same powers as the Australian Royal Commission. Therefore, it could compel the company into submitting the documents for inquiry. The appeal court added that the primary court judge mistakenly concluded that the Royal Commission Act did not present the regular power of authority when it had.

Probe in Barangaroo Casino license to begin shortly

With the appeal court ruling in favor of the regulator, Melco Resorts will have to hand over the legal documents to the regulator. Alternatively, it could appeal to the High Court of Australia. The company has not commented on its future course of action yet.

Crown Resorts currently operates a gaming two gaming complexes, one in Perth and another in Australia. It is also developing a similar property in Sydney. Melco Resorts announced that it is buying a 19.995 stake in Crown Resorts for $1.2 billion last year. The purchase would be made in two tranches. However, owing to the legal issues and investigations, the company said that it will not be completing the second tranche of its buyout deal.

The public inquiry in question was launched by the New South Wales gambling regulatory body. The regulator is also investigating if Crown Resorts made any violations in the Barangaroo casino license. However, the enquiry has been stopped temporarily.