#Royal Commission

VGCCC imposes record fines totalling $120 million on Crown Melbourne for Responsible Service of Gambling breaches.

Crown Melbourne must pay a record fine of AU $120 million or US $77 million. The reason for this punishment lies in a series of failures regarding its Responsible Service of Gambling obligations.

Crown Melbourne casino fined $120 million for breaching gambling laws. It is the first time the commission has fined a casino over 24 hours straight. The fine is based on the findings of a royal commission into Crown's suitability to hold a Casino. Crown Resorts has been hit with $200 million in fines since the regulator had its enforcement powers strengthened. The casino is “genuinely remorseful for the failings of the past” and credited its new leadership team for ‘driving a whole-of-company transformation program’ . Its investment in responsible gaming has doubled over the last 18 months.

The Star casino in Sydney lied to the inquiry into its licence. The Star was found unsuitable on Tuesday. The lie followed three inquiries and royal commissions into Crown Resorts. It followed allegations regarding money laundering and criminal influence at TheStar. They were aired on 60 Minutes. This was the day the Finkelstein royal commission into the Crown Melbourne delivered its report. There is a deep stream of misconduct and breathtaking negligence to wade through. In the case of Thestar, the lie was most revealing.

Victorian state authorities are investigating Crown Melbourne's exchanges of blank cheques for gambling chips. It is the third disciplinary proceeding raised against Crown after the highly-critical outcome of the Royal Commission.

Gambling advocates are shocked as Queensland poker machine players lose record $301.8 million in a month. Queenslanders spent $1 billion on pokies in pubs and clubs in the past four months. The government launched a four-year gambling harm minimisation plan in July last year. In the first six months of 2022, pkies losses in Queensland pubs rose by 6.9 per cent year-on-years. Professor Samantha Thomas said poker machines are the most harmful form of gambling in Australia. She said there is no excuse for governments not to do something about it.

Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia could be hit with a fine of up to AU $100m. The Victorian Gambling And Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) has begun disciplinary proceedings against the casino. They found that Crown may have been in violation of several elements of the state’s Responsible Services of Gambling regulations.

VGCCC is investigating Crown Melbourne's responsible gambling obligations. The regulator can issue a penalty worth AU$100m, change the license status or censure Crown. The Royal Commission found a systematic pattern of breaches of the Responsible Gambling Code of Conduct. Victoria G gambling and casino control commission is a new watchdog. It will investigate the case for the foreseeable future. They want to send a strong message that no transgression will go unpunished. A casino license holder must do its best to protect vulnerable patrons. In Victoria, a casino licence holder can be revoked if it does not live up to the expected standard.

Victoria’s Royal Commission found Crown inadequate to hold a casino licence in the state in October 2021. The VGCCC has brought additional disciplinary proceedings against Crown. It claims Crown did not supervise or interact with customers with gambling problems. If found guilty, Crown could be fined up to AUS$100m and its casino license varied. It could also be censured and guided through a rectification process. In April 2022, the VGCC launched an investigation into Crown Melbourne after it devised a China Union Pay process that evaded restrictions on Chinese currency.

Crown Melbourne has been fined AU$80m for assisting Chinese gamblers in unlawfully transferring money out of the country.

The rules for electronic gaming machines at the Melbourne casino have been changed to reduce harm.

Star Entertainment's chief casino officer for NSW, Greg Hawkins, will continue his testimony at the inquiry into the fitness of Star to hold a Sydney casino licence. The Star Entertainment CEO Matt Bekier resigned last month in the wake of evidence given at a high-profile inquiry. Other Star executives to continue their testimony this week are Harry Theodore, Mr Bember and McGrath Nicol partner Robyn McKern.

Star set up a secret gambling room for criminal gang-linked junket operator Suncity and hid Sun City’s illegal cash cage from the NSW casino regulator. Crown sold the Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo $1.7 billion worth of chips over five years until 2018. Martin incorrectly claimed legal privilege to refuse requests from financial crime watchdog AUSTRAC to provide a copy of a bombshell report on money laundering through its Sydney casino.

Perth Casino Royal Commission found Crown not suitable to hold WA's only casino licence. It gave Crown two years to fix its problems. The commission also recommended that the government should continue to ban poker machines. The government accepted the commission's 59 recommendations. They will not commit to regular reviews of the casino license at least every five years. There will be no weakening of a ban on poker machine. In Victoria, a QC will take charge of Crown Melbourne. Mr Buti said the priority reforms are to give more powers to the Casino Watchdog and improve its independence. He also said there will no change to a law that bans poker.

The Government of WA has accepted the royal commission’s final report on Crown Perth. The report declares the casino unfit to hold a gaming license.

The Star Sydney Casino CCTV footage from 2018 raises concerns about money laundering at the property. The junket operator SunCity was running its own private gaming salon at The Star, despite suspicions that it was laundering money. The casino's due diligence group manager Angus Buchanan had suspicions previously about the money launderers at this casino.

The Star allegedly lied to banks and categorized AU$900m (US$660m) worth of gambling transactions as hotel expenses.

Adam Bell SC will conduct public hearings into The Star Casino from Thursday 17 March. The independent review has been conducted in private but Mr Bell will now conduct hearings on a number of topics where witnesses should give evidence publicly. Mr Crawford said the public hearing is the concluding phase of the review before MrBell delivers his findings in June. The review is established under the Casino Control Act 1992 and was commissioned in October 2021 by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority.

Crown Resorts may be on the verge of opening its real-money casino component of its $2.2 billion Crown Sydney Hotel Resort in the next weeks.

Bingo is one of the most traditional games in the UK. According to the latest Gambling Act 2005, bingo does not have a specific statutory definition.

Alan Gray is a financial counsellor to some of the most vulnerable people in Western Australia. He is concerned about the introduction of electronic simulated racing games into TABs across the state. Mr Gray travels throughout the Kimberley helping Aboriginal people. He also believes the government should be more restrictive about introducing gambling machines to the Tab outlets. There are Tabbies in the area, but it's a 2,000-kilometre drive from Broome to Burswood.

Catherine Myers resigned from her position as the chief executive of Victoria's gaming watchdog on November 19. She had been in the position for more than seven years. The VCGLR will be replaced next year by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission and a new regulator for liquor licensing and compliance.

Fran Thorn has been appointed as the inaugural Chair of Victoria's new gambling regulator. She will help establish the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) for three years starting 1 January 2022. The new regulator takes over regulation from the Commission for Gabbling and Liquor Regulation. Alcohol regulation will be transferred to the Department of Justice and Community Safety.

Blackstone has renewed its offer for Crown Resorts. The main condition of the bid is that Crown keeps its three casino licences. Star withdrew its earlier $12 billion merger proposal with Crown in July. The big question is whether James Packer will be amenable to the offer. He usually only accepts offers that begin above $13 a share. A bidding war would be the ideal solution for shareholders.

The Government of Victoria has introduced in parliament the Casino and Gambling Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission.

Crown Resorts' Melbourne casino has been accused of misconduct. Ray Finkelstein's report found it facilitated money laundering, failed to stop addicts from gambling excessively and underpaid state gambling taxes. The report recommended installing a special manager to clean up the casino. However, the Victorian government agreed to pay Crown up to $200m if it removed the company's casino licence or imposed conditions on it. In New South Wales, Crown will not be given a licence to open its high roller casino in the $1.7bn Barangaroo tower until it has satisfied an expert that it's reformed itself.

The Star Entertainment has inked a US$185.9m sale and leaseback deal with Charter Hall for its Treasury Hotel and Casino in Brisbane.

Crown Melbourne will be under strict government supervision for two years.

Star Entertainment has been enabling suspected money laundering, organised crime, large-scale fraud and foreign interference within its Australian casinos for years. The Star Entertainment Group runs casinos in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. It cultivated high-roller gamblers who are allegedly associated with criminal or foreign-influence operations. They were wooed by Star with luxury goods, free hotel rooms and other incentives. The firm’s failings are exposed in internal company documents, court cases and law-enforcement intelligence briefings.

Stuart lost $10,000 gambling at Crown Casino in Perth. He was harassed and threatened by a loan shark. His story is documented in submissions to the Perth Casino Royal Commission. The commission is investigating the casino's failure to prevent loan sharks. There are also concerns about gambling limits on pokies and a self-exclusion register.

Crown Resorts has reported a loss of AU$261.6 million (U$191.2 million) in the 12 months to 30 June 2021. Revenue fell 31.3% year-on-year to AU $1.54 billion ( U$1 billion) with limited operations at both Crown Melbourne and Crown Sydney seeing EBITDA fall 77.4% to $83.1 million. VIP play contributed just AU600,000 ($439,00) compared with AU-352.5 million a year earlier. Online gaming arm Crown Digital grew 8. 5% and EBTDA rose 46. 3%.

Ahmed Hasna is suing Australia's Crown Resorts casino group for AU$4.5m (US$3.3m) Hasana has a serious gambling addiction.

The future of Crown's Southbank casino in Melbourne hangs in the balance.

Problem gamblers spend days in Melbourne’s Crown casino, sleeping in their cars and squandering tens of thousands of dollars an hour under pressure from casino staff.