National

Deadline for mandatory carded play at Crown Casino

By AAP Newswire

May 4, 2023

Crown Melbourne signage in Melbourne. — Victoria's gaming commission has ordered Crown Casino to implement new measures by December 2023. -AAP Image

Crown Casino has been ordered to ensure all electronic gaming machines have carded play and spending limits by the end of the year.

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The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission issued the formal direction on Thursday, which must be implemented by December 2023.

It means all games played on electronic machines at the Southbank casino will be linked to a person's identity through their gaming card, which the commission says is intended as an anti-money laundering measure.

Patrons must also commit to a spending limit and a maximum time on the machine before starting play.

The commission commended Crown for pledging to shift unrestricted gaming machines away from general areas, remove all machines that allow continuous play and limiting credits to $1000 per machine.

Chairwoman Fran Thorn said the commission would carefully monitor how the measures were implemented.

It comes one week after the casino was fined $30 million for letting gamblers deposit bank cheques made out to themselves, breaching problem gambling and money laundering controls.

Last year the casino was hit with fines totalling $200 million for breaches of its responsible service of gambling standards and facilitating customers to illegally use their credit cards to access money.

Crown has been approached for comment.