* Crown underlying full year NPAT A$343.1 mln vs A$369.1 analysts
* Australia "VIP" turnover down 48.9 pct
* Company announces share buyback, shares up (Adds CEO comment, VIP turnover, shares)
Aug 4 (Reuters) - Australian casino giant Crown Resorts Ltd CWN.AX 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.
Australian VIP gambling turnover fell 49 percent, the company said, without providing an explanation for the dramatic plunge in a key source of revenue.
Including significant items, like the sale of a major stake Macau casino joint venture with Melco Resorts & Entertainmnet Ltd MLCO.O , profit rose 96.7 percent to A$1.87 billion.
"Crown's Australian operations' full-year result reflected difficult trading conditions," Crown Executive Chairman John Alexander said in a statement.
Normalised revenue across the company's Australian resorts fell 12.7 percent, "due primarily to the reduction in VIP program play revenue in Australia", Alexander added.
Crown shares were 1.1 percent higher in early trade, while the broader market was down 0.4 percent, as the company announced a further buy-back of up to about 29.3 million shares. Companies use share buybacks to increase demand for their stock.
The biggest listed casino firm outside China, just under half-owned by Australian billionaire James Packer, exited its remaining stake in Melco in May, ending a fraught offshore expansion and freeing up cash for new projects at home. detained 19 Crown staff last year for illegally marketing gambling holidays abroad. Sixteen of the employees were later jailed. incident prompted Crown to quit its global expansion plan, which had also included a proposed development in Las Vegas, and to focus on Australia where it is relying on a planned luxury resort on the Sydney waterfront for growth.
At its Australian flagship casino, in Australia's second-biggest city Melbourne, Crown said normalised pre-tax profit fell 12.5 percent as VIP turnover halved.
The company did not offer any guidance about future profits.
($1 = 1.2571 Australian dollars)