Crown Casino fined $120m for breaching gambling laws

Crown Casino fined $120m for breaching gambling laws
5 min read
05 December 2022

Australia's Crown Resorts has been fined by Victoria's gambling regulator for allowing the illegal transfer of funds from China ahead of the regulator's decision on Blackstone's $6.3 billion takeover of the casino operator.

The decision was made just before regulators in Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia - all of which have deemed the Crown unfit to hold gaming licenses at different times - decided whether to approve the Blackstone deal. As we already know from several reviews of Australian online casinos, gambling laws in Australia have had a rather tumultuous run.

Australian Gambling Laws

The online gambling industry is growing in Australia. Despite the differences, the public debate on gambling in Australia has been affected by some Crown influence. Between the late 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century, gambling control methods responded to three principles inherited from British thinking.

One of the peculiarities of the Australian regulatory system lies in the subject who has this prerogative. In the island continent, in fact, from the outset, it has been the individual states and not the federal government that has assumed the burden of gambling control. Over time, this has led to the creation of a very diverse regulatory framework.

Over the past century, the issue of public order has lost its topicality to the detriment of an economic reflection on the exploitation of this cultural phenomenon for the benefit of state finances. In particular, in some countries, the creation of lotteries was the response to periods of economic recession and the need to provide new welfare instruments for the population.

In the evolution of gambling in Australia, one of the decisive steps is linked to the wave of liberalization that began in the 1970s. The commercialization and subsequent development of a complex industry in the second half of the twentieth century went hand in hand with a general trend of economic growth and an increase in the material well-being of the population.

This bill clearly and unequivocally allows and legalizes lotteries in Australia. Of course, there are some restrictions (e.g. age restrictions), but in general Australian residents can legally join online casinos.

Crown Casino fined $120m for breaching gambling laws

Huge fine for Crown Casino

The latest bad news is that Crown Resorts Ltd has been fined $120 million ($77.2 million) for serious misconduct. According to regulators in the Australian state of Victoria. The fines were imposed for breaching responsible gambling requirements, including allowing some customers to gamble for more than 24 hours.

The firm operates casino complexes: Crown Melbourne in Victoria; Crown Perth in Western Australia; and Crown Sydney in New South Wales Crown was acquired in June by private investment firm Blackstone Inc for $6.15 billion.

Crown's breaches were "widespread, prolonged, systemic and very serious," the regulator said in a report posted on its website. The decision follows the findings of an eight-month royal commission into the Crown's suitability to hold a gaming license in Victoria.

As a reminder, the operator has been convicted of gambling offenses. This happened in 2014 in the United States. In this regard, the commission asked Crown Melbourne to discontinue its business relationship with the offenders.

In 2016, the company continued to work with an operator that ran tours. At the same time, the casino was presented with a line of credit worth twenty million New Zealand dollars. At the same time, US law enforcement took the operator into custody.

Commission officials said the Crown must end its relationship with the operator. The regulator also warned that if this request is ignored, the company will face a serious fine. Afterward, the company made a full report to the commission and told all about its current cases with the breaching operator. The commission then imposed an acceptable fine.

Crown Casino said in a statement that it "acknowledges its historical failures." At Crown, chief executive Helen Coonan said the company was continuing to work with the VCGLR and the Victorian Government on a reform project.

The changes to the core business are aimed at a very specific goal. It is to maintain the highest standards in governance and compliance. These initiatives make it possible to restore customer confidence and the smooth running of the various services. The official pointed out that throughout this reform program, Crown has already ceased all operations on junket operators, following the Commission's recommendations.

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