James Packer's wretched pre-GFC foray into the US casino market has again come back to haunt him, with the Australian Taxation Office demanding Crown Resorts pay a $362 million tax bill relating to its failed Cannery casinos business.

Mr Packer, who owns 53 per cent of Crown, botched an attempt to capture a slice of the US market nearly a decade ago.

The ghost of a deal gone sour in the past has reared its head again for James Packer. Credit:Andrew Quilty

In 2007 he acquired Cannery Casino Resorts for $US1.75 billion ($2.4 billion), a portfolio of four casinos in Nevada and western Pennsylvania, but the global financial crisis hit and crunched US gambling revenues. Crown was subsequently forced into billions of dollars of write-downs.

The ATO is now chasing Crown over $362 million in income tax, split between $250 million relating to tax and interest for the 2009 to 2014 financial years and $112 million in penalties.