{"id":83547,"date":"2018-07-11T13:30:11","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T20:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=83547"},"modified":"2018-07-11T13:21:16","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T20:21:16","slug":"regulators-discard-whistleblower-testimony-in-crown-licensing-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regulators-discard-whistleblower-testimony-in-crown-licensing-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Melbourne Whistleblower Testimony Discarded in Licensing Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crown Resorts\u2019 gambling license for its flagship Crown Melbourne is up for review, but the testimonies of a whistleblower with claims that could affect the casino\u2019s suitability for licensing renewal have been ignored by regulators.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew
Independent Federal MP Andrew Wilkie and perennial bane of Crown Melbourne said it was unfathomable the regulator would not hear the testimony and that whistleblowers preferred anonymity because they \u201cfeared for their safety.\u201d (Image: Matt Roberts\/ABC News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Independent Federal MP Andrew Wilkie, regulators refused to hear testimonies that Crown tampered with slot machines, possibly illegally, because the whistleblowers wished to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the gambling regulator for the State of Victoria (VCGLR), obtained by The Age,<\/em> Wilkie said this was \u201cunfathomable\u201d and that it cast doubt on the integrity of the licensing review. The MP is a tireless anti-gambling campaigner and has been a thorn in Crown\u2019s side for many years.<\/p>\n

Video Evidence<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wilkie announced in April<\/a> that he\u2019d been approached by a former VIP customer at the casino who claimed staff had provided her with \u201csmall plastic picks\u201d to stick into the gaps between betting buttons on slot machines to keep them depressed, allowing for automatic and continuous play.<\/p>\n

She also claimed the casino issued her with multiple loyalty cards so she could earn loyalty points by playing several slots at once, in further violation of regulations.<\/p>\n

The whistleblower later obtained video evidence that the practise was still in use when returned to the casino with one of Wilkie\u2019s employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice and regulators often take information from anonymous sources for investigation \u2014 in fact, Crime Stoppers campaigning makes a virtue of this,” Mr Wilkie wrote to commission chair Ross Kennedy last month, referencing the crime hotline program run by Australian Federal Police.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wilkie claimed the whistleblower — and others he had spoken to — preferred to remain anonymous because \u201cthey feared for their safety,\u201d although he did not say why this should be the case nor provide any evidence they had been threatened.<\/p>\n

Crown Melbourne Button-Blocking Penalty<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to the Sydney Morning Herald<\/em>, slots with continuous play options are permitted only in designated areas of the casino under Victorian law, but tampering with machines whose mechanics must be regulatory compliant could be against the law.<\/p>\n

In April, VCGLR fined Crown Resorts<\/a> a record A$300,000 ($220,000) after finding evidence the casino had engaged in button blocking, where blanking plates are used to hide certain buttons in order to restrict betting options.<\/p>\n

But the VCGLR also accepted the tampering had been part of a temporary experiment on a small number of machines “by a small group of Crown staff” who did not believe they needed regulatory approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crown Resorts\u2019 gambling license for its flagship Crown Melbourne is up for review, but the testimonies of a whistleblower with claims that could affect the casino\u2019s suitability for licensing renewal have been ignored by regulators. According to Independent Federal MP Andrew Wilkie, regulators refused to hear testimonies that Crown tampered with slot machines, possibly illegally, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":83551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,18,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRegulators Discard Whistleblower Testimony in Crown Melbourne Probe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Crown Melbourne Casino licensing review has ignored a potentially damaging claim of slots tampering by a whistleblower to the infuriation of Australian anti-gambling politician Andrew Wilkie.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Regulators Discard Whistleblower Testimony in Crown Melbourne Probe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crown Melbourne Casino licensing review has ignored a potentially damaging claim of slots tampering by a whistleblower to the infuriation of Australian anti-gambling politician Andrew Wilkie.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regulators-discard-whistleblower-testimony-in-crown-licensing-probe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-11T20:30:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-11T20:21:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/wilkie1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" 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