Crown Melbourne faces record $78M fine for breaching Victorian gambling harm regulations

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission announced Monday a record-setting AUD 120 million ($77.7 million) fine on Crown Melbourne. The penalty aims at sending "a powerful message" to the company indicating misconduct will not be tolerated, according to the regulator.

The financial punishment was imposed for two separate issues, both based on the findings of a royal commission into Crown’s suitability to hold its license. The AUD 100 million fine was issued because of the firm's failure to stop people from gambling for more than 24 hours straight; and an additional AUD 20 million was imposed because the casino failed to stop patrons from using plastic picks to simulate "automatic play" when gambling on certain machines.

The operator has new owners and is currently pledging reform. However, regulators assure they have seen resistance from the company, similar to the attitude of the “old Crown." In a report, they state that they have been left with the impression that “Crown Melbourne is determined to continue interacting with the Commission in the same way as it did with the former regulator,” ABC Net News reported.

Crown’s response has been described as “redolent of the old Crown, which Crown Melbourne keeps saying it wishes to leave behind.” It also included making submissions “not supported or contradicted by the evidence," failing to facilitate documents to investigators, and making assertions about law but not giving the commission anything to back it up. 

Crown Melbourne currently has a special monitor that oversees its operations, who will continue with the task for the next 15 months. At the end of said period, the monitor and the regulator will decide whether the company is “suitable” to hold the license. 

In the report, Crown Melbourne was duly warned to “do better” in its dealings with the regulator, especially when it comes to providing documents requested under compulsory powers. The regulator then assured that if the way it responded to this investigation was "the total of the work being done, then the Commission would have reason to be concerned," the aforementioned source reported. 

According to Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission chairperson Fran Thorn, Crown is currently working hard to become trustworthy and to meet the concept of what is a suitable associate. However, a regulatory gap persists as state-based regulators can only investigate and prosecute people who are currently working at the casino. 

Thorn said Crown was sent a “powerful message” that the Commission will not tolerate misconduct, as these were not isolated episodes. “They were a pattern of extensive, sustained and systemic failures that spanned roughly 12 years," she noted.

Crown Resorts said in a statement that it is “genuinely remorseful”, and assured it has invested heavily in its remediation program including Responsible Gaming resources. Its recently appointed leadership team is also part of its plan, and it is said to be “driving a whole-of-company transformation program designed to uplift the culture and build a better Crown,” according to a statement. 

The VGCCC said Crown accepted the disciplinary action and the need for it to continue working on reforms. It is the second time the regulator has used its stronger enforcement powers to take action against the casino operator. Earlier this year, it issued an AUD 80 million ($51.7 million) fine to Crown for having a scheme that allowed the illegal transfer of funds from China.