'This is new territory': Australia's powerful Crown casino faces scrutiny like never before

Crown Resorts takes extraordinary steps to deny crime link claims, but faces five separate inquiries and calls for a royal commission

It is an action of last resort when handling an extreme corporate public relations crisis: if your world is exploding around your ears take out a full-page advertisement in the daily newspapers to protest your innocence.

Crown Resorts, the powerful and highly recognisable proprietor of the largest casino complex in the southern hemisphere and product of Australia's second-most powerful business dynasty, the Packer family, reached for the PR nuclear button last Thursday.