The royal commission’s inquiry into Crown’s responsible gambling practices continued on Wednesday, this time hearing that a VIP gambler at Crown Resorts was able to play for 34 hours straight in 2019 before being forced to take a break.
Crown’s responsible gaming head Sonja Bauer said that staff would encourage carded players to take breaks every 12,15 and 17 hours, but there was no set processes in place to check uncarded players, instead relying on general observations.
“The system is set up to make it quite possible that someone could gamble for hours on end and not be approached by any staff,” said Adrian Finanzio, SC.
Bauer admitted that it was possible for this to happen given the casino’s size and staffing levels and the alert system.
Commissioner Ray Finkelstein however, said that one of Crown Melbourne’s responsible gaming advisors previously gave evidence that she would rarely stop a carded player when the 12 hour mark came up, and that she would only intervene if the gambling was clearly gaming irresponsibly.
