Crown Melbourne will have an additional two years to expand its mandatory carded play technology to all table games after the Victorian government agreed an extension until December 2027.
According to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald, legislation was introduced to parliament this week supporting the longer timeline which is said to relate to the challenges in implementing technology that did not exist when mandated by the 2021 Royal Commission into Crown’s Melbourne casino license. The Royal Commission’s recommendations included an order that all gaming machines and tables implement mandatory carded play by December 2025.
IAG understands that mandatory carded play – which tracks time on device and allows players to set spend limits – has already been implemented across all slot machines at Crown Melbourne and will be launched on electronic gaming tables within this year, however developing the technology for traditional gaming tables has proven more challenging.
Crown had reportedly warned that it would need to close sections of its gaming floor and retrench up to 1,200 workers if the government if the December 2025 deadline to have mandatory carded play active across all gaming tables was retained.
The extension by two years of that deadline has been criticized by anti-gambling proponents and follows Crown Melbourne being censured earlier in the month for 22 instances of Crown customers being able to continue using a poker machine after reaching their nominated time or spend limit between December 2023 and 21 July 2024.
That censure was reported as a failure in Crown’s carded play system but in reality highlighted its effectiveness with the 22 instances representing a tiny fraction of the thousands of individuals who frequent Crown Melbourne’s gaming floor each day. IAG understands around 25,000 people currently visit the Crown Melbourne site each day.
Crown won back its Melbourne casino license in March 2024 after the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) said it was satisfied with the results of the company’s considerable transformation efforts since the Royal Commission.
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