Crown Casinos Facing Money Laundering Charges, Accused of Machine Tampering
James Packer’s Crown Resorts is facing investigations by federal money laundering authorities and casino regulators in at least two states, the Guardian and other media outlets were reporting Thursday. Crown is home to the popular Aussie Millions poker tournament held annually.
There were claims made by former casino employees of poker machine tampering and allegations that the casino had avoided reporting cash transactions at Crown’s Melbourne casino.
One of the accusers appeared to be a poker machine technician, while one other was a gaming room attendant.
Allegations include odds manipulations at video poker machines, staff being instructed to modify buttons on the machines so they could be wedged with a small pick, and the allowing of other individual’s identity cards to be used as a means of processing cash transactions.
Crown has denied all such claims.
“We take any claims of this type extremely seriously and they will be thoroughly investigated,” a spokeswoman said. “We continue to work closely with other law enforcement agencies, including Austrac and Victoria police, to ensure the purposes of the Casino Control Act 1991 are met.”
This story is developing….
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
