Aug 4 (Reuters) - Australian casino giant Crown Resorts (CWN) said on Friday its underlying annual net profit fell by nearly a sixth, missing analyst forecasts, due to decreased demand from high-rolling VIP gamblers across its Australian resorts.
Normalised net profit before one-off items came in at A$343.1 million ($272.9 million) for the year to June 30, down from A$406.2 million a year ago and below the A$369.1 million average forecast of 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
"Normalised" net profit is a measure used by casino companies to strip out irregularities in win rates. ($1 = 1.2571 Australian dollars)