Crown proposes industry-wide forum to ensure smaller gaming operators strengthen AML, responsible gambling controls

The CEO of Australian casino and integrated resort operator Crown Resorts has proposed the formation of an industry-wide forum under which it would assist the nation’s hundreds of pubs and clubs implement the same AML and responsible gambling controls currently required of Crown.

Speaking at the Regulating the Game conference in Sydney on Monday, Ciarán Carruthers said that the strict controls being placed upon Crown’s properties in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth would be of little use if similar restrictions did not apply to all gaming venues. Currently, he noted, those identified by Crown as potentially suffering from a gambling problem, or those looking to launder funds, can simply “move elsewhere in the community where the guardrails and protections and safeguards don’t exist.”

“We are of the view that system neutrality – where there is a consistent approach to gambling regulation within each state – has broad reaching benefits for the whole industry and for the public,” Carruthers said.

“If we don’t have system neutrality, the problems simply move elsewhere.”

However, the Crown CEO noted that initiatives such as those recently announced in New South Wales – where venues with 20 or more gaming machines will be required to employ harm minimization officers – or in Victoria where pre-commitment and carded play will be introduced at all venues, are “not easy or cheap.”

“This transition is difficult so I won’t stand here and tell you that it’s simple and you should just get on with it. But we have done it and we are doing it, so I am telling you that it’s possible. That’s why I believe we have a role now in supporting other operators in making the transitions that we have without having to start from scratch. We want to share our knowledge and resources with as many operators as we can, because doing so benefits everybody – the regulators, the operators, the guests and the team members and our communities.

“I would like to propose the creation of an industry-wide forum that Crown will gladly chair to allow us to share research, data, processes and technology to assist this move forward. In order for the industry to do better we have a shared responsibility to lay the foundations for safer, more enjoyable experiences for our guests who have come to have fun and be entertained gaming and should be able to do that safely.”

According to Carruthers, the push for such an industry body comes with Crown – which recently implemented its PlaySafe program with mandatory carded play – having already seen evidence of guests “walking out of Crown’s resorts and into the local pubs, clubs and RSLs, where carded play technology does not yet exist.”

On Crown’s own progress, Carruthers said the company has “moved mountains” to transform its culture from one that put profit before compliance to one that fulfils community expectations. Crown has, he explained, invested AU$71 million into its compliance and responsible gambling teams, including 170 new hires in compliance and a 50% increase in the size of its RG team.