Australian operator Crown Resorts has been charged after being caught signing uncleared bank cheques and illegally allowing people to gamble, according to Australian press. The value of the cheques added up to more than AU$1.5bn.
The practice is believed to have brought in between AU$30m and AU$70m for Crown in the two decades it was conducting this process, as estimated by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC). The VGCCC said this practice has provided gamblers with a line of credit they should not have been able to access.
This is not the first time Crown has been slapped with a weighty fine. Crown was fined AU$80m last year and came dangerously close to losing the licence for its flagship Melbourne casino. An eight-month royal commission found that it was unfit to run the facility after finding “a disgraceful litany of leach and ethical breaches.”
Earlier this year, Crown Resorts also revealed a data breach which further damaged the reputation of the company.
Crown Resort did not deny the allegations and made a statement saying: “These practices have ceased and we have implemented significant improvements to reduce and prevent risk across our business.”
Crown Resorts were fined AU$80m last year for illegal practices that took in between 2012 and 2016. Then there was a further fine of AU$120m in 2022 for breaches of its responsible service of gambling obligations. Now it can add another $30m to its collection.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown for Crown's leadership team, who will be under the watchful eye of VGCCC, who said of the issue “We will not allow the casino to conceal its practices to avoid scrutiny.”
