Australia’s Crown Resorts ordered to pay $294 million penalty for money laundering

The Crown Casino complex is pictured in Melbourne, where guests can take advantage of the hotel's extensive gaming options.

The casino operator, Crown Resorts, has agreed to a $294 million penalty for not preventing money laundering and criminal activity at its casinos, the Financial Crime Authority said in a statement.

In reaching the agreement, Crown admitted that it operated in breach of the Anti-Money Laundering and counter-terrorism Financing Act 2006 AML CTF Act.

Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth casinos failed to accurately assess the money laundering and terrorism financing risks they faced and to identify and respond to changes in risk over time, the regulator said.

Crown's contraventions of the AML CTF Act meant that a range of obviously high-risk practices, behaviours and customer relationships were allowed to continue unchecked for many years, said AUSTRAC boss Nicole Rose.

The deal reached is subject to approval from the Federal Court and will be heard on July 10 - 11 at a later date.

The company that committed these unacceptable breaches, historic breaches is far removed from the company that exists today, Crown said in a statement.

Australia's biggest casino firm, Blackstone, was bought by Blackstone for $6.3 billion last year.