Crown withholds responsible gaming papers

Crown sent an “eleventh-hour” letter to a royal commission detailing a plan to improve its responsible gaming practices, but has withheld key documents.

An inquiry into whether Crown remains suitable to keep its licence for its Melbourne operations is set to focus on the James Packer-backed group’s approach to responsible gaming.

Counsel assisting Adrian Finanzio SC on Tuesday said lawyers from Crown sent a letter to the inquiry at 7.30pm on Thursday.

He said the letter proposed to minimise problem gaming by increasing the number of staff who work on responsible gaming and introducing set playing times for its customers.

“The letter promises to stop things that, on one view, should never have been happening in the first place,” Mr Finanzio told the inquiry.

“The changes proposed amount to an implied admission that some practices are inconsistent with the responsible service of gaming.”

Mr Finanzio said the letter was received at the “eleventh-hour” before a week of hearings on this topic and that the timing could not go “without remark”.

He added that counsel assisting immediately requested access to the proposed changes and papers from the May 24 board meeting where they were constructed.

But neither have been provided.

Mr Finanzio also said people who gamble at Crown Melbourne were three times more likely to experience problem gambling than those who use other venues in Victoria.

The royal commission was set up by the Andrews Labor government after a NSW inquiry found Crown unsuitable to run its newly-built casino in Sydney’s Barangaroo .

That inquiry found Crown facilitated money laundering, partnered with junket operators with links to organised crime groups even after being made aware of these connections, and exposed staff to the risk of detention in China.

The Victorian inquiry is now in its third week.

It has been told Crown lied to the Victorian gambling regulator about what it knew of China’s foreign casino crackdown after its own staff were arrested overseas.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation looked into the arrests of 19 Crown staff in China in 2016.

All were charged with gambling promotion offences, and remain the subject of an ongoing class action against Crown.

The inquiry also heard a Crown representative was “furious” and threatened to call Victoria’s gaming minister after the VCGLR probed its scrutiny of junket players.

It continues on Tuesday with evidence from Crown Melbourne’s responsible gaming manager Sonja Bauer.

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