Crown Melbourne customer gambled for 34 hours straight
Victoria’s royal commission into Crown Resorts has been told that one gambler played for over 34 hours straight at Crown Melbourne before they were forced to take a break.
It is the latest revelation in the inquiry into whether the operator remains suitable to keep a licence for its Southbank venue.
Sonja Bauer, Crown Group General Manager, Responsible Gaming, is the latest person to give evidence to the inquiry, which is now in its third week.
Bauer said Crown staff would encourage carded players – those who can be electronically tracked – to take a break every 12, 15 and 17 hours through an alert system, but that staff would not automatically check on uncarded players, those who cannot be tracked.
Staff would instead rely on general observations, but counsel assisting Adrian Finanzio SC said a VIP gambler in 2019 played for more than 34 hours before being told to take a break.
The inquiry has heard that people who gamble at the Southbank casino are three times more likely to experience problem gambling than those who gamble at other Victorian venues, while also hearing that Crown Melbourne received around 64,000 daily visitors from 2016 to 2019, but employed only 12 staff to monitor responsible gambling.
“The system is set up to make it quite possible that someone could gamble for hours on end and not be approached by any staff,” said Finanzio.
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