Crown Resorts drops more than 6% as VIP bets shrink

Crown Resorts shares tumbled more than 6 per cent on Wednesday after the casino operator posted first-half earnings that showed profits up by less than 1 per cent as revenue shrank and VIP punters bet less.

Crown reported normalised net profit after tax of A$194.1m ($139.1m) for the six months to the end of December, a rise of just 0.9 per cent.

Normalised revenue at the company’s Australian resorts fell 1.2 per cent from a year ago to A$1.54bn, weighed on by a 12.2 per cent drop in VIP betting turnover, which totalled A$19.9bn for the period.

Crown’s Sydney-listed shares were down as much as 6.1 per cent in morning trading following the results.