The Victoria Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) has reprimanded Crown Melbourne after ruling that the land-based casino committed multiple breaches of its gambling harm minimisation obligations.
Detailing the case, the regulator said Crown allowed customers to use poker machines without having installed pre-play gambling limits. These limits are required by state law.
In Victoria, licensees are required to instal the government’s YourPlay programme on all poker machines. Furthermore, mandatory carded play and pre-commitment applies to poker machines inside casinos.
YourPlay enables players to set limits to time or money spent on the machine and lets them keep track of their own gaming machine play across the entire state of Victoria.
According to the VGCCC, the flagged breaches took place between December 2023, when mandatory carded play and pre-commitment was introduced in Victoria, and July 2024. Crown was found to have allowed 22 customers to continue using machines after reaching their nominated time or spend limit.
The VGCCC also found another 10 customers had gambled using a card linked to a YourPlay account not in their name. These incidents occurred between December 2023 and August 2024.
Crown Melbourne avoids financial penalty
Concluding the case, the VGCCC elected to formally censure Crown. It noted the operator’s cooperation with the investigation and evidence the breaches were isolated. The regulator also acknowledged remedial efforts had been undertaken to address the issue, including additional monitoring and staff training.
However, the VGCCC emphasised the reprimand will remain on Crown’s record. It added that it could take “more serious disciplinary action” should similar or further breaches occur.
“Poker machines are a high-risk, high-harm product,” VGCCC chair Chris O’Neills said. “This is why we place so much emphasis on holding the industry to account when they fail to honour their legal and social licences to protect customers from gambling harm.
“Pre-commitment programmes empower people to manage gambling by making decisions before they start gambling, about the amount of time and money they will spend. Research has shown that well-designed pre-commitment systems with binding limits can be effective in preventing harm from poker machine use.
“It is imperative, therefore, from both a legal and ethical perspective, that the casino is vigilant about meeting its pre-commitment obligations.”
The warning comes after the VGCCC recently fined QuestBet for accepting bets from a user displaying signs of gambling-related distress. The online bookmaker was fined AU$80,000 (US$51,928) over the matter.
Crown Melbourne was warned about its conduct in Victoria but avoided a financial penalty.