REPORTS VICTORIA
Te Crown Melbourne has recently been hit with fines totalling $120m by the VGCCC for failures within its Responsible Service of Gambling obligations which were uncovered during the Royal Commission report last year. Crown Melbourne
THE CASINO
Te Crown Melbourne casino, which is located at Southbank, is Australia’s largest casino with three luxury hotels with a total of more than 1,600 rooms, spa, theatre, bars, restaurants and function rooms. Te casino has 540 tables and 2,628 EGMs. Crown also owns the One Queensbridge development site which could house a fourth hotel.
Te casino was granted a licence in 1993 which runs until 2050. Te temporary opening occurred in 1994 with the casino opening fully in 1997.
Te casino operates under the Casino Control Act plus an agreement between the VGCCC and Crown Melbourne Limited which entered into force in September 1993 and has been amended 12 times, most recently in 2019. Te casino must undergo a review every five years at least to look at the suitability of the operator and the last (Sixth Casino Review was completed in 2018).
Te Crown Melbourne is operated by Crown Resorts which also runs the Crown Perth and the recently opened Crown Sydney. Te Crown Melbourne has traditionally been the highest earning casino in the country.
Crown Resort’s revenues for the year ending June 2021 saw total group revenues of $1.53bn (down 31 per cent) on previous year due to closures during Covid.
Of this Crown Melbourne saw total revenues of $578.7m compared to $1.6bn the year before (down 64 per cent). Tis is mostly attributed to the fact the casino was closed for 160 days in total during Covid lockdowns.
However, half year results ending June 2022 saw the casino with revenues of $265m compared to
the previous half year results of $91.5m.
Te Crown Melbourne has recently been hit with fines totalling $120m by the VGCCC for failures within its Responsible Service of Gambling obligations which were uncovered during the Royal Commission report last year.
Te disciplinary action against Crown found the casino failed to prevent gambling harm by allowing players to gamble for long periods without a break and not stopping patrons using devices to stimulate automatic play on pokies,
Te fine is the latest in a list of troubles and inquiries into the casino giant. Last year the Bergin inquiry found the company unfit to open its new Sydney casino whilst the report has found Crown unsuitable to run the Melbourne casino but has placed the casino on ‘probation’ and given it two years to clean up its act.
In February 2021, a Royal Commission was set up to look at the suitability of Crown Melbourne Ltd to hold a casino licence. Te report looked at findings of Crown Melbourne facilitating millions of dollars money laundered through a bank account of its subsidiary and allowing operators with links to organised crime to arrange for junket players to gamble at the casino.
Te Bergin inquiry was triggered in 2016 after the arrest of 19 China based Crown staff of which 16 were late imprisoned for illegally promoting gambling in Australia to Chinese residents. Between 2012 and 2016 Chinese high rollers transferred up to $160m from China to the Crown Towers Hotel – in reality to spend on gambling tables. Te casino was fined $80m over the China Union Pay scheme.
Te results of the Commission’s report saw 33 recommendations and means Crown Melbourne is
Te Bergin inquiry was triggered in 2016 after the arrest of 19 China based Crown staff of which 16 were late imprisoned for illegally promoting gambling in Australia to Chinese residents. Between 2012 and 2016 Chinese high rollers transferred up to $160m from China to the Crown Towers Hotel – in reality to
spend on gambling tables. Te casino was fined $80m over the China Union Pay scheme. Crown Melbourne
P72 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
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