Australia’s Crown Resorts Fined $77M USD for Misconduct

Posted on: November 6, 2022, 09:31h. 

Last updated on: November 9, 2022, 02:44h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas.

Crown’s Melbourne, Australia casino has been slammed with two fines totaling AUD 120 million (USD 77.3 million). The fines levied by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) are for breaching South Australia’s Responsible Service of Gambling legislation.

Crowne Melbourne
Crown’s Melbourne, Australia casino has been fined $77M for allowing patrons to play for 24 hours without a break and encouraging them to use plastic slugs to stimulate automatic play. (Image: theage.com)

The Aussie casino company was fined for consistently failing to stop customers from gambling for long periods, sometimes more than 24 hours, without a break.

It was also fined for ignoring the regulator’s direction to prevent patrons from using plastic picks and other devices to simulate automatic play on its video poker machines. (In fact, the VGCCC said, the casino even supplied patrons with Crown-branded counterfeit tokens to jam down their play buttons.)

Blackstone acquired Crown (NYSE: BX) for USD 65 billion in June 2022.

Crown in Blackstone’s Side

VGCCC chair Fran Thorn said Crown failed in its “legal and moral obligation” to minimize gambling-related harm to its patrons.

“The record fines totaling $120 million (AUD) that we have imposed on Crown today will send a powerful message to Crown that the Commission will not tolerate misconduct that exposes our community to increased risks of gambling-related harm,” she said.

Thorn said the breaches were “not isolated” but part of “a pattern of extensive, sustained, and systemic failures by Crown that spanned roughly 12 years.”

“The stories of financial loss, of suicide attempts, of forced sex work,” Thorn said. The people who gambled for two to three days straight. These are real stories of real harm. We cannot forget, and we cannot tolerate it.”

In October 2021, after an eight-week prove into Crown, the VGCCC concluded that the company was not suitable to operate its Melbourne resort. However, in a concession, the state gave the troubled company time to overhaul how it did business.

“The [2021] royal commission found Crown did not change its ways,” Thorn said this week. “Once again, Crown’s behavior contradicted its claims to be a world leader in responsible gambling practices,” she said.

Crown Accepts Punishment

The VGCCC said Crown had accepted the disciplinary action and the need for it to continue working on reforms.

“Crown is working very hard to be trustworthy and to meet the concept of an acceptable associate,” Thorn said.

This is the second time the VGCCC has used its stronger enforcement powers to take disciplinary action against the Crown. In May 2022, the VGCCC fined Crown AUD 80 million (USD 51.8 million) for scheming to allow the illegal transfer of funds from China.

This latest series of fines bring the total fines imposed on Crown by the VGCCC since receiving its strengthened enforcement powers to AUD 200 million (USD 129 million).