Victoria to impose AU$1,000 spending limits at Crown

The Casino Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Implementation and Other Matters) Bill 2022, which outlines sweeping changes to Victoria’s casino regulatory system dealing with Crown Melbourne, was passed just over a month after its introduction in August.

A royal commission led by Ray Finkelstein KC recommended these amendments to the law after it found that senior executives at the casino were “indifferent to their ethical, moral and sometimes legal obligations”, in its extensive report into misconduct at the Crown Melbourne casino.

Crown also faces inquiries in New South Wales and Western Australia.

The law also includes provisions for a pre-commitment regime for poker machines, meaning that players will have to set how much they are prepared to lose before they play, another recommendation of Finkelstein’s report.

Crown has until the end of 2023 to put in place the spending limits and December 2025 to fully implement the entirety of the changes. The grace period is a reflection of the new technology which will have to be developed by the operator in order to ensure its full compliance with the law.

If Crown does not demonstrate it has cleaned up its “disgraceful” conduct it will automatically be stripped of its casino licence.  

Minister for consumer affairs, gaming and liquor regulation Melissa Horne said:

“We are holding Crown Melbourne to account and delivering on an additional 12 recommendations – targeting money laundering and harm minimisation – to implement every one of the royal commission’s recommendations.

“This legislation implements world-leading reforms to make sure the failures uncovered by the royal commission can never happen again.”

Earlier this year, private equity giant Blackstone acquired Crown for AU$8.87bn.