Problem gamblers routinely spend days in Melbourne’s Crown casino, sleeping in their cars and squandering tens of thousands of dollars an hour under pressure from casino staff, the Victorian royal commission has heard.
The stories are brutal, honest and heart-wrenching, laying bare the tactics designed to keep problem gamblers playing.
Gambling for a meal
Binbin Du spoke about his spiral into gambling addiction. He started gambling online after losing his job in Brisbane in 2017 and started betting on races and the NBA. When his marriage broke down, Du travelled to Melbourne to use points accrued by marketing on CrownBet online at Crown Melbourne.
He started playing blackjack but was lured by a person whose name the commission didn’t release to play baccarat in Crown’s VIP Mahogany Room as part of the commission play program. Players are offered free accommodation, food and beverage credits as part of their winnings. While the house takes fewer winnings in an average game, the goal, the commission heard, is to keep people playing longer.
“Because of the loneliness, the boredom and the negative emotions, grief associated with the [marriage] breakdown … I used gambling as a way to escape,” Du said.
He had sold his three properties and his divorce had been settled by this point. Du estimated he had lost $100,000 gambling online — including $15,000 on a single bet.
“I was so mad about myself and frustrated,” he said. He banned himself from the online gaming platform Betfair — but turned his attention to baccarat. He played eight hours a day for two months straight — twice spending 15 hours at the table. Du said he was pressured by his casino host to spend $270,000 a day to qualify for accommodation and meals.
Only after two months of daily gambling did someone from the casino’s responsible gambling department approach him.
He estimates he lost $300,000 in total at Crown during the spree.
When making a complaint about losing money, he said his casino host told him: “This is like water — you can either drink it or don’t drink it.”
The inquiry also heard Crown hired just 12 responsible gambling staff to monitor tens of thousands of patrons. Mahogany Room executive Peter Lawrence, who oversaw the room where Du played baccarat, admitted to preying on problem gamblers.
Four days straight in front of the pokies
An unnamed social worker visited Crown regularly for three years to observe patrons. One client, a married woman with children, played the pokies for four days straight.
“She actually sleep[s] a little bit, also in front of the pokie machines,” the social worker said, adding a Crown employee never stopped to check on her, as is required by law.
“I have seen people crying on their phone and I have seen staff walking by without approaching them and I’ve seen a lot of people sleeping right in front of the pokie machines.”
The social worker said many gamblers slept on a couch in the casino, in the food court or the car park in between gambling sessions.
The commission also heard of a woman whose husband forced her into illegal sex work in the family’s massage shop to support his gambling addiction, women who experienced domestic violence because their husbands blamed them for their bad luck, and a young man whose father had to sell the family business to pay a $500,000 debt from a loan shark who preyed on gamblers.
Trying to quit
The amount of cash flowing through the casino is huge. Du said he saw a gambler lose $2 million in half an hour playing baccarat. A private security guard who worked for junket operator Tom Zhou said he saw his boss and two colleagues burn through $8 million in one night — taking home just $180,000 in commission, delivered in cash in a brown paper bag.
Another man said he realised he had a problem when he lost about $12,000 in two months. He called the gambler’s helpline who told him he could ban himself from the casino. Despite knowing the faces of many of the bar and security staff, the man said he didn’t recognise any of the responsible gaming staff — whose office was in an unlabelled room behind frosted glass — to help him organise the ban.
The inquiry continues.
Anybody impacted by gambling (your own gambling or someone else’s), can call Gambler’s Help on 1800 858 858.
For anyone seeking help, Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue is 1300 22 4636.
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