A raid by Victorian police on a so-called “illegal casino” in the Melbourne suburb of Truganina made plenty of headlines across Australian media outlets over the weekend, with vision from the operation – which saw 21 people arrested – showcasing large sums of cash among the items seized.
It also caught the attention of IAG, and not just because the “illegal casino” moniker was ludicrous given the venue was little more than a glorified poker room with not a traditional casino game in sight. But we’ll save that argument for another day.
The more important takeaway was that, although discovery of this setup in an otherwise unassuming factory in Melbourne’s west no doubt turned some heads, in reality such discoveries are bound to become commonplace in the years ahead given the increasingly restrictive nature of the state’s gaming regulations.
Rather than authorities focusing on the “what” of the situation, perhaps they should consider the “why”. Why would anyone go to the trouble of establishing their own poker room in contravention of state laws when there is a perfectly legal venue just a few kilometers away called Crown Melbourne?
The answer comes down to rules and regulations, and more specifically the impact of tightening regulations on Victoria’s gaming offering.
As IAG has reported on extensively, the result of the Finkelstein Royal Commission into the Melbourne casino license has been a raft of restrictions around what products and services casinos can offer and how long individuals can spend on the casino floor in any given day or week (12 hours per day, 36 hours per week).
While such restrictions are intended to “protect” the playing public from themselves, they also bring unintended consequences – as regulations often do – like forcing players to look for alternatives when the freedoms they once enjoyed have been taken away.
The 12-hour rule was always going to create headaches for the poker playing community and the inevitable result will be a greater proliferation of home games popping up across Melbourne, Sydney and beyond. And IAG fully expects the more traditional underground casinos that populated these cities many years ago to make a comeback of their own. We are old enough to remember illegal casinos in King’s Cross in Sydney and roving illegal casinos and two-up games in Melbourne.
As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
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