Crown Melbourne fined as 242 self-excluded gamblers slip back into Melbourne casino

Crown Melbourne has been fined for letting 242 people who had banned themselves from gambling back in to punt.

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission says self-excluded patrons are going to considerable lengths to sneak in and gamble.

However the commission has fined Crown $2m for breaches of the Casino Control Act.

Crown self-reported a majority of the infringements under its mandatory reporting duties.

“The Crown today is markedly different from the entity it was prior to the Royal Commission,” the casino commission’s detailed report on this incident says.

“Crown has undertaken, and continues to undertake, extensive reforms to address these (governance and compliance) issues.”

In response to the $2m fine, a Crown spokesperson said: “Crown is committed to ensuring a safe and responsible gaming environment with a focus on guest wellbeing and harm minimisation”.

“We continue to work with the VGCCC on these and other matters to protect people at risk of gambling harm.”

The self-excluded gamblers got back into the casino between October 2023 and May 2024.

“Those who self-exclude must be able to trust that gambling providers will take all reasonable steps to enforce their decision to avail themselves of this harm prevention initiative,” commission chair Fran Thorn said.

The casino commission’s ongoing monitoring detected the breaches. The gamblers were able to get back in because of “system and control failures rather than deliberate or egregious disregard by Crown of its regulatory obligations”, Ms Thorn said.

“It is also clear that a number of these self-excluded patrons are going to considerable lengths to avoid detection and break their exclusion requirements.”

Crown has been directed to engage an independent expert to assess the efficacy and any potential improvements for the management of its self-exclusion program.

“In due course, Crown will be required to implement the independent expert’s recommendations,” Ms Thorn said.

Gambling helplines

Following a royal commission, earlier this year the casino commission directed Crown Melbourne to transform its operations and ended a two-year review, allowing Crown Resorts to keep its Melbourne licence.

In announcing the $2m fine on Tuesday, the commission said Crown had “taken some steps to strengthen its controls for policing exclusion orders, and introduced measures to improve its monitoring activities, physical security, use of technology and training of staff”.

Nearly 10,000 people registered themselves on the national BetStop exclusion register during the first two months of its existence in 2023. As of August 28,000 people had registered, and more than 35 per cent opted for self-imposed lifetime bans.

Government agencies estimate one-third of Australia’s 3.5 million adult gamblers experience, or are at risk of, gambling harm.