Three minors, including a 12-year-old girl, were recently caught gambling and drinking in the Star Casino.
Sydney’s Star Casino was charged a fine of $90,000 after three minors were caught either gambling or drinking on the premise.
The three minors caught include a 12-year-old girl, a 16-year-old girl, and a 17-year-old boy.
The 12-year-old girl was snuck into the casino by her parents through the exit doors and immediately taken to the main gambling floor. Her mother remained with her and watched as she placed 21 bets on different poker machines in a span of 17 minutes, CCTV footage shows.
The young girl and her parents were visiting Australia on tourist visas and were only caught by security once they attempted to leave. The ILGA stated that the occurrence was a serious breach of standards.
“Not only did the Star fail to manage the risk, once the child was on the gaming floor, there were a number of opportunities where staff should have noticed a very young person playing the poker machines – well before they actually did, which was when the family was leaving,” Director of Investigations and Intervention at the ILGA, David Byrne described.
This headline should read ‘Sydney’s Star Casino caught allowing a 12 year old to gamble’ https://t.co/0CU7AGkeFP
— SR Passing It On (@SallyRMelb) August 15, 2020
Another incident occured when a 16-year-old girl entered the premise through a VIP checkpoint without being asked to present her ID. After she was allowed entry and found on the main gaming floor, she was asked for her ID and provided a fake driver’s licence. She was then served alcohol.
On a different occasion, a 17-year-old boy used his own driver’s licence as identification to gain access to the casino. He was on the premise for at least three and a half hours and interacted with 15 staff members before somebody noticed he was underage. He had already been served alcohol and played 42 round of roulette and 22 hands of poker before being thrown out by security.
omfg a 12 year old was caught gambling at the star casino and the casino got fined $90K
— celine (@excelince) August 16, 2020
“Both children’s forays lasted long enough that they had interacted with several staff members by the time they were discovered, in the 17-year-old boy’s case, CCTV showed a total of 15 staff interactions,” Byrne said.
The Star Casino self-reported all three incidents and was fined $60,000 for the 12-year-old’s incident and $15,000 each for the 16-year-old and 17-year-old.
“We appreciate The Star’s co-operation in coming forward each time they detect a minor, however we do take these cases seriously. The penalty indicates that every breach requires a regulatory response befitting the risk of harm to young people and the community.” Mr Crawford stated.
However, Twitter users have criticised the fine, highlighting the fact that it’s a measly amount for the billion-dollar company.
Apart from known illegal behaviour (e.g. money-laundering), these should be some of the most serious contraventions of a gambling licence and penalised accordingly.
— Zak (@zaktinoid) August 15, 2020
Star Entertainment CEO Matt Bekier was remunerated $3.3 million in 2019, or $90,000 every 10 days. I hope he's OK.
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