Blackstone has made progress on its $6.3 billion buyout bid for troubled casino operator Crown Resort after Australia’s gambling regulators granted the the PE firm permission to run the Crown Resorts casinos in the country’s two largest cities, according to a report by Reuters.

Sydney-listed Crown, which is 37% owned by billionaire James Packer, has backed Blackstone’s buyout offer having been damaged by revelations that it enabled money laundering and hit hard by the global pandemic.

Read more: Private Equity Wire