One was to cash in his family's media business to private equity before the rot set in.

The other was a $US900 million ($1.2 billion) gamble on a piece of paper, a sub-concession, that would allow him to operate casinos in Macau.

It was wild west territory. Just the prior year, 2005, one of Stanley Ho's progeny paid $US380 million for a sub-concession.

These two decisions made Packer's fortune and outweigh any of the financial missteps, like his misadventures in Las Vegas, which have proved far more costly than his late father's legendary gambling binges.

Crown exited its final stake in Melco last week having made billions on its 12-year adventure.

Packer would have us believe his exit from the Melco Crown partnership was nothing more than the end of a very successful venture.

"Our investment in Melco Crown Entertainment has been extremely successful," he told Rupert Murdoch's The Australian last week. "The total Melco Crown selldown has earned Crown almost six times what we invested."

He says it was now the right time for Crown to exit and concentrate on its Sydney casino - not that they call it a casino.

We are to believe that the abrupt change in strategy over the past six months had nothing to do with the fact that 14 Crown staff are still in detention in China over alleged gambling-related crimes.

To give some perspective, let's wind things back a few years when Packer was selling his love affair with China to an Asia Society luncheon in Sydney: "I have made many, many mistakes in my life but investing in China is not one of them."

It even underpinned his detour into Hollywood, which has also been abandoned in the new purge.

"The movie business has always had a love affair with casinos. Casinos love the movies. Television and film sell emotion. Casinos sell adrenaline. There are also commercial benefits," he once said.

"There is a globalisation play here. There is a real chance to grab the opportunity in China. In 10 years' time, the Chinese box office will have overtaken the United States. I'd like to see my business interests spread out evenly across the US, Australia and China."

Not anymore.

Packer was not prepared to concede, in the interview, that Crown has no chance of winning a beach head in Japan - the market expected to rank behind Macau as the second most lucrative in the world. But it is hard to see how it could succeed.

If the deeply conservative Japanese were not spooked enough about Crown's pariah status in Beijing, there is the issue of Packer's Israeli affairs.

While there is no indication of wrongdoing on Packer's part, it is not a good look to be publicly linked to a graft probe that threatens to take down an incumbent Prime Minister like Benjamin Netanyahu.

As an interesting aside, who remembers Packer's failed foray in Sri Lanka?

The prime piece of land that was to become Packer's $US400 million gaming extravaganza, Crown Colombo, has changed hands.

A low-key Japanese firm will now invest up to $US450 million in its own "mixed development project" on the site.

Late mail

The endless paperwork is the bane of any business, so you could forgive a board member at a junior explorer - like Alt Resources - from missing a change of directors interest notice, or two.

Hey, Downer's Grant Fenn failed to lodge three consecutive notices in 2015. It happens.

So, how many notices did Alt director, Neva Collings miss?

There were 89,400 shares disposed of in November last year - with the approval of her chairman, William Ellis. That's one.

She acquired 156,200 shares in October as part of a capital raising. That's two.

Collings disposed of 50,000 shares in January and February this year with the approval of her chairman. Three.

She received an allotment of 500,000 shares in March. That's four.

And another allotment of 250,000 shares on May 5 was included in the notice lodged Thursday May 11. That's five misses.

"The company considers its current arrangements are adequate for ensuring timely notification, and that failure to do so in the past is due to administrative oversight," said the explorer.

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