Star Sydney has been fined AU$90,000 (US$65,000) after it reported three incidents of underage gambling on its casino floor between March and July 2019. One of the incidents involved a 12-year-old girl.
The New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) issued the fines, arguing that the company could have prevented the breaches and was not sufficiently alert.
ILGA Chairman Philip Crawford was troubled by an incident in which a 12-year-old girl spent 17 minutes playing poker after “being snuck in a back door by her mother,” according to Asia Gaming Brief.
“It’s quite staggering that the young girl’s parents facilitated her entry in such a deceptive manner, let alone allowed their daughter to gamble,” Crawford said.
He added, “Staff should have noticed a very young person playing the poker machines well before they actually did, which was when the family was leaving.”
According to the ILGA, in another incident, a 17-year-old boy was served alcohol and played 42 rounds of roulette and 22 hands of poker, and a 16-year-old girl was served alcohol.
The boy entered the casino with his own driver’s license and interacted with staff at least 15 times across three-and-a-half hours before he was noticed to be underage, according to the Guardian.
Star reported a total of 32 instances of minors gaining access to restricted areas of the casino in 2019 and in 2018 reported 35 instances.
