Crown Resorts chief executive officer Ken Barton has resigned.

In a statement, the Melbourne-based casino operator said Helen Coonan will lead Crown as executive chairperson while the board oversees a replacement to fill the new chief executive position.

Coonan, a former John Howard government minister, was appointed Crown chairperson in January 2020.

Barton was at Crown for more than 10 years. Barton was chief financial officer before being appointed chief executive in January last year. He has now joined Crown executives Andrew Demetriou and Michael Johnston, who both quit last week.

Shares of Crown were up 1.1% to A$10.00 during morning trading in Sydney Monday, valuing the company at A$6.8 billion ($5.3 billion).

Last week's report by former judge Patricia Bergin was highly critical of Barton, saying he lacked the skills for the job.

"Barton has demonstrated that he's no match for what's needed at the helm of a casino license or a close associate of the licensee," Inside Asian Gaming quoted Bergin as saying in a statement.

Bergin found Crown was not fit to hold the license in its current status because it facilitated money laundering through bank accounts held by subsidiaries.

Despite banks raising worries over the transactions, Barton was said to have fought to keep the accounts in question active.

The New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, Bergin said, could not have confidence in Crown while Barton remained at the helm.

The authority is set to deliberate on the report at a board meeting Feb. 17.

Crown Resorts Ltd is the biggest gaming and entertainment group in Australia which had, in April 2018, a market valuation of just over A$8.7 billion. Crown owns and operates two of the country's top gambling and entertainment complexes, Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth.