Crown Resorts Faces $2M Fine for Self-Exclusion Failures
The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) has fined Crown Resorts $2 million for enabling self-excluded players to gamble at Crown Melbourne.
Crown Resorts sign. VGCCC fines Crown Resorts $2 million.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:An investigation found that 242 people who had self-excluded from gambling were still able to place bets at Crown Melbourne on hundreds of occasions. Furthermore, 427 self-excluded individuals gained access to the casino a total of 750 times. Both of these issues were determined to violate the Victoria Casino Control Act 1991.
The VGCCC discovered these violations through ongoing monitoring of Crown Melbourne between October 2023 and May 2024. During this period, self-excluded people gambled on 451 occasions, with some staying for periods ranging from one to ten hours and gambling up to 27 times during a single visit.
The actions were found to be in breach of Section 76C of the Victoria Casino Control Act, which prohibits allowing self-excluded individuals to gamble.
Concerns Raised About Adequacy of Crown’s Systems
The VGCCC issued a statement in which it questioned the operator’s ability to monitor players.
Allowing self-excluded persons to remain on the premises for extended periods not only undermines the integrity of the exclusion system but also exposes these vulnerable individuals to heightened risk of gambling harm. The failure to promptly identify and remove self-excluded persons from the casino raises serious concerns about the adequacy of the Crown’s surveillance and monitoring of excluded persons.
The VGCCC also criticized Crown for allowing self-excluded players to enter the casino, in breach of Section 76B of the state’s gambling regulation. However, the regulator acknowledged that this was not as severe as the breach of Section 76C and it noted that Crown had taken steps to address the issue.
In response, Crown claimed that it had introduced measures to prevent these individuals from entering or staying within the casino. However, the VGCCC was still concerned about the high number of breaches during the monitoring period, indicating potential weaknesses in Crown’s systems.
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Crown Fined for Serious Breach
After reviewing the case, the VGCCC decided to penalize Crown only for breaches of Section 76C, as these were deemed the most serious. Crown acknowledged that the breaches were the result of system and control failures and has since taken steps to enhance its procedures to reduce future risks.
Despite these efforts, the VGCCC said that some self-excluded individuals were persistent in trying to bypass the exclusion measures and said that these people were exploiting vulnerabilities in the system to continue gambling.
While the maximum penalty for such a breach could have reached $100 million, the VGCCC imposed a relatively small fine of $2 million, which must be paid within 28 days of the ruling on October 14.
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