Crime big wig Tony Mokbel on track to resume punting – but casino ban stands
Crime bigwig and known punter Tony Mokbel is free to return to the racetrack while out on bail, but he is not welcome at Crown casino.
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Crime bigwig Tony Mokbel is free to return to the racetrack and get back on the punt, but he is not welcome at Crown casino.
Mokbel, a key figure in Melbourne’s Gangland War, was well-known to bookmakers at major race meets as the head of the notorious Tracksuit Gang – a group that would bet hundreds of thousands of dollars in co-ordinated plunges at the track.
The risk-taking Mokbel was also a regular at Crown.
But as police closed in on him in 2004, Mokbel was among the first banned from race tracks and the casino under Victoria Police’s exclusion order regime.
His brothers, Horty and Kabalan, were also banned.
Other underworld identities targeted by the banning regime included Carl Williams and Mick Gatto, who infamously met at Crown for a “peace conference”, with Andrew “Benji” Veniamin and Mario Condello in attendance, at the height of the war in 2003.
The bans were aimed at suspected organised criminals believed to be laundering money at the casino and the track.
About 600 suspected criminals and their associates were black-listed.
But as revealed by the Herald Sun in November, a series of legal challenges to the banning regime resulted in Victoria Police sending out letters since 2020 notifying individuals that their bans had been overturned.
This week Racing Victoria confirmed that Mokbel was free to attend race meets and was unaware of any individual track banning him.
The AFL also confirmed Mokbel, a talented junior player and Hawthorn supporter, could attend the footy.
But Crown Casino management has placed an indefinite ban on Mokbel and his brothers.
On Friday, Mokbel sensationally walked free from 18 years in prison after he was granted bail while he awaits his appeal to be heard over the Lawyer X saga.
His appeal is centred on his lawyer and former friend, Nicola Gobbo, who contaminated his legal proceedings by snitching against him as a Victoria Police registered informer known as human source 3838.
Mokbel’s appeal against his drug convictions – labelled Quills, Orbital and Magnum – will be heard later this year.
Since walking free from the Appeal Court on Friday, Mokbel has enjoyed spending time with his girlfriend, whom he is in a long-term relationship, and dealt with a media scrum during a park walk.
Mokbel has reported daily at Heidelberg Police Station in compliance with his bail conditions.
The 59-year-old has never lost the gambling bug.
During his time in prison Mokbel was able to use a betting account through associates.
His love of the punt was captured by the Herald Sun in 2004.
Mokbel rubbed shoulders with high-profile sporting, business and social figures on Oaks Day while on $1m bail surety.
Mokbel told the masthead he was on a hot streak during the Spring Carnival, backing at least four winners during Oaks Day and boasting he had won $380,000 from a rails bookmaker in phone bets on Melbourne Cup Day.
Mokbel has had one conviction overturned due to the Lawyer X saga and is likely to sue the state following his appeal.
Originally published as Crime big wig Tony Mokbel on track to resume punting – but casino ban stands
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