The Star Sydney casino is facing an AU$90,000 fine after allowing three underage individuals to gamble or drink alcohol.
A boy aged 17 was served alcohol and managed to play 22 hands of poker and 42 rounds of roulette, while the venue’s staff served alcohol to a 16-year-old girl. A girl aged 12 is also among the minors whom the Star Sydney casino did nothing to prevent from gambling and drinking.
The 12-year-old girl originates from China and was visiting Australia on a tourist visa with her parents. It was her mother, who helped her snuck to the main gaming floor of the casino, and then watched how the child placed 21 bets on pokies over 17 minutes.
The young girl and her parents were caught by the Star Sydney casino’s security at the time when they were leaving the venue, after spending some time there in what the local gambling regulatory body – the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (NSW ILGA) – described as a serious breach of the existing rules. Philip Crawford, the chairman of the watchdog said he was astonished by the actions of the girl’s parents, who helped the child enter the casino in what he called “a deceptive manner”.
David Byrne, the director of investigations and intervention of the NSW ILGA, explained that underage gamblers trying to enter the casino through the exit doors, what was the case with the 12-year-old Chinese girl, constituted an obvious risk and the Star Sydney casino should have been prepared for that.
The casino and its staff, however, failed to manage the aforementioned risk and once the underage gambler entered the gaming floor, the venue’s staff did nothing to make the girl stop playing the poker machines. The only actions that were taken by the casino’s employees were the ones at the time when the family tried to leave the venue.
The Casino Reported 32 Instances of Underage Gamblers in 2019
As mentioned above, the 12-year-old girl entering the Star Sydney casino and playing the pokies was one of the three incidents involving minors at the venue. In another incident, a 16-year-old girl was also able to enter the gambling venue through a checkpoint for high-roller customers without the casino employees even asking her to show them an ID. At the time when she was finally asked for ID, she was already on the main gaming floor of the venue. The girl then showed a fake driver’s licence, which was accepted by the casino’s staff and she was served alcohol.
The third incident with a minor patron at the Star Sydney casino involved a 17-year-old boy, who was also served alcohol and managed to play 22 hands of poker and 42 rounds of roulette before the casino security made him leave the venue. According to reports, the underage boy entered the casino using his own driver’s licence and had interaction with casino staff no less than 15 times in a period of about three and a half hours before they even noticed the boy was under the legal age to gamble and drink alcohol.
The liquor and gambling regulatory body of NSW confirmed that both children’s violation of the casino’s policy lasted long enough and there had been interactions of both minors with staff members before the employees noticed the two customers were minors. The casino itself reported the three incidents, which happened in the period from March to July 2019. Despite that, it faced an AU$60,000 fine for the incident involving the 12-year-old Chinese girl, as well as AU$15,000 fine for each of the incidents involving two other teenagers.
The Star Sydney reported a total of 32 cases of underage individuals gaining access to the casino’s restricted areas in 2019. There were 35 such instances in 2018.
- Author
Olivia Cole
