The $67 million fine imposed on Adelaide’s SkyCity Casino in a money laundering case is just another chapter in an appalling litany of failures by casino’s across the country and highlights the need for urgent Federal Government action.
The interim CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Martin Thomas, said there was an urgent need for the creation of a national casino regulator.
“The Adelaide Casino court case involved horrendous allegations that the casino had customers that had links to organised crime, loan sharking, human trafficking and sex slavery,” Mr Thomas said.
“This latest sorry saga of bad behaviour is further evidence that we simply can’t trust casinos to police themselves. We need the Federal Government to take urgent action to protect Australians.”
Mr Thomas said the Alliance welcomed the latest fine and also applauded moves across the country to bolster maximum fines for breaches in the operations of casinos.
“But fines are not enough, we need to do more to protect Australians from casinos that have demonstrated a long history of allowing organised crime to launder money through their operations and even encourage it,” Mr Thomas said.
“More broadly we need a national gambling strategy, we need more consistent national regulation and stronger enforcement.”
Australians lose over $25 billion each year to gambling, the highest per capita spend in the world.
Mr Thomas said gambling harm was a massive public health issue, linked to poor physical and mental health, poverty and homelessness, criminal activity, family violence, and suicide.
About us:
The Alliance is a national advocacy organisation which works to prevent and minimise the harm from gambling. Our aim is to remove the shame that surrounds gambling addiction, have the problem treated as a public health issue, and achieve the legislative changes needed to protect our communities. We bring together well over 60 organisations who share the objectives of preventing harm from gambling.
Contact details:
Media contact: Martin Thomas – 0477 340 704