‘Predatory’: Crown let punter keep losing after $100k cheque bounced

Crown Melbourne invited a patron back into its exclusive Mahogany Room to continue gambling even after he racked up a $100,000 debt with a cheque that later bounced and told Crown he was considering banning himself from the casino.

Crown’s head of VIP customer service, Peter Lawrence, conceded to Victoria’s royal commission into the casino on Tuesday that its treatment of that customer in 2016 was irresponsible, “probably” predatory and motivated by profit.

Crown Melbourne’s general manager of VIP customer service, Peter Lawrence, giving evidence to Victoria’s royal commission on Tuesday.

Commissioner Ray Finkelstein is examining Crown’s casino licence, with a heavy focus on whether it provides gambling services responsibly, after the James Packer-backed group was found unsuitable to run a casino in NSW in February.

Mr Lawrence also told the inquiry on Tuesday it was a “surprise” for him to learn that Victorian law prohibits Crown from accepting cheques from gamblers made out to anyone other than Crown, given it was common practice in the VIP Mahogany Room he manages.

That was the case in May 2016, when regular customer Ahmed Hasna visited the casino’s premium Mahogany Room and handed over a $100,000 cheque made out in his name for gambling chips, the inquiry heard.

The roulette player lost all those chips and his cheque bounced when Crown then tried to cash it, counsel assisting the inquiry Geoffrey Kozminsky said.

Mr Hasna told his Crown “host” he was in financial strife and could not immediately repay the debt, and that he was considering entering a legally binding “self exclusion” from the casino, according to evidence from the pair given outside the public hearings.

The royal commission is examining whether Crown does enough to tackle gambling harm.Credit: Joe Armao

Crown’s records showed Mr Hasna had gambled without a break for 26 hours and 23 minutes on one occasion in 2008, and that he had banned himself from the casino that year and again in 2012.

Despite this, Mr Lawrence instructed the host to invite Mr Hasna back to the Mahogany Room to continue gambling on the understanding that he would pay back the $100,000 debt whenever he won.

He paid off the debt after wins later in 2016, Mr Kozminsky said, but then continued to gamble frequently at the casino and lost “a significant amount of money ” after that - millions of dollars, according to Mr Hasna. However, Crown contends that Mr Hasna lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr Lawrence said he did not know Mr Hasna inquired about an exclusion but otherwise conceded that he probably knew about his previous self-bans and that it was obvious he was in financial trouble.

“You agree with me, don’t you, that the decision to let Mr Hasna come back to gamble was predatory and irresponsible?” Mr Kozminsky asked.

“It was irresponsible, yes,” Mr Lawrence responded.

Mr Kozminsky: You don’t accept it’s predatory?

Mr Lawrence: Yes. It’s a strong word but possibly, yes.

The inquiry also heard from Crown that it had changed its policies on May 24 so that players who owe the casino money cannot continue to gamble there, which is one of a suite of changes introduced on the eve of the royal commission’s hearings about its approach to gambling harm.

Mr Lawrence - who receives annual bonuses based on the casino’s turnover - accepted he made mistakes in relation to Mr Hasna and his decisions were motivated by the need to make money. However, he disputed that this explained the evidence from other patrons that nobody from Crown was “looking out for them” for signs of harm when they gambled.

“The point of all this,” Mr Kozminsky asked, “is that when left to balance the competing interests of profits or the welfare of customers in the Mahogany Room, you and your colleagues prioritise money?”

Mr Lawrence replied that “certainly revenue is an important part of what we need to achieve, but ... yes, I agree.”

In his statement made to the inquiry, Mr Lawrence said he referred around two patrons to the self exclusion service every year over the past nine years but under questioning admitted that he could only recall ever having done this once.

The inquiry’s public hearings are expected to continue until the end of the month. Commissioner Finkelstein must report his findings back to government by August 1.

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