China Court Sentences Crown Resorts Senior Executive to 10 Months in Prison

A senior executive at Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd. received a sentence of 10 months in prison for gambling crimes, an Australian government official in Shanghai said Monday.

Two other Australian Crown employees received sentences of nine months in prison for similar crimes.

Jason O'Connor, the senior executive who headed Crown's international VIP program, was detained in mid-October along with more than a dozen other Crown employees. The sentences include time served, meaning the three Australians are expected to be released in the coming months.

All 19 current and former Crown employees who were previously detained pleaded guilty Monday and received sentences after a trial that lasted about three hours. The sentences of the other employees weren't immediately released.

The October detentions reverberated through the casino industry and led to concerns that lucrative Chinese high-rollers would stop visiting foreign casinos.

Crown didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.

Write to Wayne Ma at wayne.ma@wsj.com and Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2017 01:12 ET (05:12 GMT)