Two Crown staff quit jobs after being nabbed at illegal warehouse casino
Two crown staff have quit after they were found at an illegal Poker Room in Melbourne’s west when the discreet container casino was stormed by police earlier this year.
Police & Courts
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Two Crown staff have quit after being entangled in a bust on an illegal casino in Melbourne’s west.
The pair were present when officers stormed Mickey’s Poker Room at Truganina in August, arresting 21 people.
It is not clear whether the casino staff had previously carried out work at Mickey’s, which was discreetly nestled in an industrial area.
It is believed they have not been charged yet but their time at Crown is over.
Their attendance at Mickey’s was in breach of the terms of employment.
“We take a zero-tolerance approach towards unlawful and illegal behaviour and can confirm that two individuals have taken the decision to leave Crown as part of an investigation into breaches of their employment,” a Crown spokeswoman said.
A gaming industry source said the duo would probably have been in breach of their casino special employee licence conditions by being at Mickey’s.
Many people who are banned from the Southbank complex get their punting fix at the illegal gambling dens.
Others who attend do not want to play at Crown because of increasingly stringent conditions relating to cash transactions which have emerged in recent years.
It is also understood patrons attended illegal casinos to escape “anti-social” or illegal behaviour at major venues, such as alleged drug-dealing.
Regular patrons at the former Truganina location defended the back door operation, telling the Herald Sun the industrial hangout resembled more of a social space where rumours of such a steep buy-in had been “grossly exaggerated”.
They estimated no more than 20 people were inside the venue when police busted through its roller door back in August.
Despite photographs captured of a fully stocked bar, one visitor said nothing of the sort was running inside the venue, where low-level gamblers went for social games of poker and others gathered for a drink.
The bust has reportedly done little to kerb a “widespread” cross-section of the community in Melbourne’s western suburbs from gathering for higher-stakes games of poker inside people’s homes.
The Herald Sun understands several other clandestine casinos were operating in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, as well as in Melbourne’s west.
“They’re happening all the time,” a former patron said.
“It’s openly available to anybody... there for the world to see.”
Melbourne has always had illegal casinos but their number has increased in recent years, a gaming industry source said.
On August 2, police busted another illegal casino operating in Notting Hill in Melbourne’s southeast.
Ten people were allegedly gambling inside, where officers found gaming tables, cards, poker chips, cash, mobile phones and alcohol.
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