Crown Resorts Criticised For Lack Of Responsible Gambling Measures

Australian based casino operator Crown Resorts is currently facing a review into its operations and alleged compliance breaches by a Royal Commission.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) is the independent gaming regulator in Victoria who has been accused in the past of being too lenient towards Crown Melbourne’s shortcomings. Crown Melbourne is the flagship casino for Crown Resorts and is under threat of losing its license if the Royal Commission finds Crown unsuitable to continue to operate in the state.

Adrian Finanzio, SC who is assisting the inquiry into Crown Melbourne’s failings came down pretty harsh on Sonja Bauer who is the GM for responsible gaming at Crown.

Finanzio said that their investigation showed that there were serious and regular breaches of responsible gambling practices that proved that Crown Resorts was definitely not a world class casino operator by those standards.

Bauer was forced to admit that Crown Resorts could not claim the ‘world class’ tag any longer as their shortcomings in the responsible gambling department was very clear. She pointed out that Crown Resorts had taken steps in recent months to fix these gaps. However, Finanzio told her that these were 11th hour measures and were not good enough when it comes to player protection.

Sky News Australia

Crown Promises To Make Immediate Changes To Keep Crown Melbourne License

Crown Resorts is said to have held a meeting on May 24 to discuss the measures it would take to improve its responsible gambling policies. The Royal Commission requested for the minutes of the meeting to be provided but as of this writing, Crown is yet to submit the minutes.

Commissioner Ray Finkelstein was informed that based on the investigation players who visited Crown Melbourne were three times more likely to be exposed to gambling harm when compared to playing at any other location. Crown Melbourne has a total of 2628 pokies and 1000 of those pokie machines are allowed unlimited spins and can accept high bets.

Crown Melbourne had 1 responsible gambling advisor (RGA) for every 870 pokie machines whereas licensed pubs and clubs in the state had 1 RGA for every 105 pokies. Crown was cautioned by VCGLR in 2018 about the lack of RGAs and the operator increase the number from 7 to 12. However, the increase wasn’t done based on any quantitative analysis. Crown has now promised to increase the number to 17.

The investigation will continue this week and we should know by the end of the week, if things are going to work out or not for Crown Melbourne.