Daily Archives: July 7, 2021

Wynn (NASDAQ:WYNN) was walloped during the pandemic. Its casinos had to close their doors to players and guests alike and are only slowly starting to recover. That slow pace of recovery might change when the company next reports earnings results.

Nevada reported a record high in gambling revenue in May. It's probable that Wynn was a beneficiary of the increase in wagering activity in the state. Even so, is it time to consider Wynn stock, or is it wiser to wait for the recovery to prove it's here to stay?

Image source: Getty Images.

Wynn reported operating revenue of $725.8 million for the first quarter of 2021, a decrease of 23.9% from the same quarter last year. The first quarter did include some easing of coronavirus restrictions, but a significant number were still in place. The second quarter, which includes April, May, and June, is where most restrictions were removed and the vaccination campaign really accelerated.

That combined has unleashed a fury of gaming activity in Nevada. Indeed, the state reported record gambling revenue of $1.2 billion in May, a 25% increase from 2019 levels. Also, the state has reported three consecutive months of over $1 billion in gambling revenue. If it reports a fourth, it will be the first time since before the financial crisis it has achieved the feat.

Given the surge in gambling activity, it will not be surprising if Wynn reports excellent revenue figures the next time it releases earnings. The company has a major presence in Las Vegas and likely benefited from the recovery.

Still, it's not clear just yet. Visitation to the city is still down significantly, and travelers arriving at the Las Vegas airport are also down. The increase in activity is coming from folks within driving distance of Las Vegas. One of the last legs of the pre-pandemic economy to recover is business travel. Companies find they can get along just fine meeting virtually and enjoy the cost savings from reducing business travel.

Casinos in Las Vegas found it profitable to cater to business conventions, which helped fill hotel rooms during the weekdays. There is no telling if or when that side of the business will recover. And in perhaps the worst timing ever, Wynn completed an expansion of its convention facilities in February 2020.

Importantly, the company is still generating losses. In its most recent quarter, Wynn reported a net loss of $281 million. However, in the decade before the pandemic, Wynn was generated healthy operating profits, with margins consistently above 10%.

Additionally, the company has a growth opportunity it is developing in the online sportsbook market. Its product is live in six states, with plans to expand to more states later in 2021.

However, there are reasons to favor waiting for the recovery to take hold before accumulating a position in Wynn. It is still too early to determine if this recovery in gambling activity will unleash pent-up demand that will be sustained. And the possibility that businesses will reduce travel long-term is alarming. The risk versus reward is not favorable enough to roll the dice on this casino stock just yet.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Consumers Are Gambling Again: Is It Time to Consider Wynn Stock? - The Motley Fool

The GTRC analysed 39,853 customer accounts from six leading sports and race betting sites in Australia over the financial year of 2018-2019.

It found that 83 percent did not use any of the voluntary tools studied for example deposit limits, timeouts and self-exclusion/deactivating the account. Almost all of those who used the tools used only deposit limits. Of those who set deposit limits, half made no changes to their limit after setting it, while 766 people (one in eight) made between one and three changes and 32 people made more than 15 changes.

Interestingly, those who set deposit limits were found to be similar to those who did not gamble, on most characteristics studied such as age, gender, betting frequency, and overall outcome, while those who used timeout/self-exclusions stood out: they were younger, more likely to be male, placed more bets and in bigger amounts, won less, had fewer days without gambling and had more variability in the amount they gambled and the amount they won from day to day.

Dr Heirene explained: This painted a clear picture: timeout/self-exclusion users appear to gamble in a more problematic way and this insight can focus future research and targeted interventions.

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Voluntary betting controls are a bad gamble - News - The University of Sydney

A story published by the Detroit News this week had golfer Phil Mickelson threatening Thursday to never return to the Detroit area.

Then on Friday, Mickelson whos in Michigan to compete in this weekends Rocket Mortgage Classic reversed course, sort of.

The 51-year-old California native, whose PGA Championship win in May made him the oldest golfer to ever capture a major tournament title, said he would return to the Detroit area on two conditions: that a petition circulated by Michigan golfer Mike Sullivan, calling for Mickelson's return, reach 50,000 signatures, and that everyone who signs perform "one random act of kindness," he said, according to ESPN.

Mickelson had reacted Thursday after The Detroit News ran a story about 2007 federal court records it obtained, detailing how years earlier a bookie from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, allegedly cheated Mickelson out of $500,000, FOX 2 of Detroit reported. Mickelson never faced any criminal charges in connection with the case, the report said.

MATSUYAMA TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID, WITHDRAWS IN DETROIT

Detroit News reporter Robert Snell, who wrote the story, identified the bookie as "Dandy" Don DeSerrano, referring to him as "one of the biggest gamblers in Detroit," who has allegedly "handled bets for big shots as a Las Vegas casino host."

DeSerrano died in Las Vegas in April of natural causes at age 75, Casino.org reported.

Mickelsons lawyer said the News report was accurate but questioned its timing, which coincided with Mickelsons appearance in the area, ESPN reported.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Mickelson said he didnt appreciate the newspapers "unnecessary attack" with a story from "two decades ago," and noted that it made him feel unappreciated after juggling his schedule to participate in this weeks tournament in Michigan, FOX 2 reported.

"Not like I care, it happened 20-something years ago, its just the lack of appreciation," Mickelson said, according to the station. "Yeah, I dont see that happening. I dont see me coming back. Not that I dont love the people here, they have been great, but not with that type of thing happening."

But when Mickelson stepped up to the first tee for Fridays action at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, played at the Detroit Golf Club, he was met with chants of "We love Phil!" The Detroit News reported.

Later, he shared the terms under which he would return.

"If the members of the community will come together, Id love to be back," Mickelson said, according to the News.

"If the members of the community will come together, Id love to be back."

Phil Mickelson is seen at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, on Oct. 18, 2020. (Associated Press)

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Later Friday, the Childrens Foundation of Detroit announced that Mickelson and his wife Amy Mickelson had donated $100,000 to the organization, the newspaper reported.

This weekend marks Mickelsons first tournament in Michigan since the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, the News reported. He was supposed to play in last years Rocket Mortgage Classic but the coronavirus pandemic forced a rescheduling to a week when he couldnt appear, the report said.

None of Mickelsons 45 career PGA Tour victories have come in Michigan, the report said.

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Phil Mickelson says he wont return to Detroit after gambling story, then reverses with conditions - Fox News

Digital entertainment and online gaming platforms have assumed unprecedented user and subscription base over the last few years and the pandemic has further provided the timely thrust that such businesses needed in a long time. In this article we will briefly walk you through the basic legal aspects prevalent in India that govern the business of online and virtual gaming.

The online gaming business boomed and is still continuing to receive its share of active gamers who are fascinated by the digitally developed conventional games that enable you to play with other gamers from any other part of the world or in certain cases, with the computer technology itself! . With the technological development that has resulted in playing games with computer through artificial intelligence-based software designed for the same, certain online games have again fallen under the radar to settle the dispute of whether they are a game of chance or game of skill.

In this regard, it is pertinent to note that under the Constitution of India, the state legislatures have been entrusted with the power to frame state specific laws on betting and gambling (games of chance). The Public Gambling Act, 1867 (Public Gambling Act) which prohibits all activities related to gambling, has been adopted by several states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh and Haryana, while other States like Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Meghalaya and Goa among many others have resorted to enacting their own gambling legislations. The states of Sikkim and Nagaland in India have enacted legislations pertaining exclusively to Online Gaming within their territory and in states like Telangana, Assam and Orissa gambling is entirely prohibited irrespective of the medium.

Recently, a petition had been filed in the Bombay High Court by Keshav Muley, an office-bearer of a regional political party, that sought registration of an FIR against the makers of a game application called Ludo Supreme alleging that the game involves only chance/gamble and there was no skill required to play the game. According to the petition, one could play the game Ludo downloaded through the Ludo Supreme App by betting money and the bank account could be linked to the application and money could be deposited with the applications electronic wallet wherein the player winning the game would take all the money put in by the rest of the players and a certain amount would be deducted by the application service provider as its share of remuneration. In the said petition filed, it has been contended that Ludo is a Game of Chance and that by throwing dice in it, the player does not know which number will appear and thus, there is no application of skill of the player. On this basis, this petition claims that the service of offering online Ludo gaming by the company, tantamount to gambling service. Further, the pop-up ads in the said app seemed to encourage people at large to play the game of ludo with an assurance that one would only win money and not lose any, as contended in the petition.

At this juncture, it is pertinent to note that among judicial precedents concerned with gaming, the courts have recognised that no game is a game of pure skill alone and almost all games involve at least the minutest of luck, but yet can circumvent the stigma of gambling, if the skill involved is higher than the chance.

THE OLDEN BUT GOLDEN HOLDINGS!

One of the earliest rulings on this aspect is probably that was laid down by The Honble Supreme Court, in the matter ofState of Bombay v. R.M.D. Chamarbaugwala [MANU/SC/0019/1957], wherein it had interpreted the words mere skill to include games which are preponderantly of skill. It held that if a game, is preponderantly a game of skill, but also has an element of chance, it would nevertheless be a game of mere skill.

In,State of Andhra Pradesh v. K. Satyanarayana and Ors. [MANU/SC/0081/1967]the Apex Court held that famous cards game rummy is not a game entirely of chance and it requires certain amount of skill because the fall of the cards has to be memorised and the building up of Rummy requires considerable skill in holding and discarding cards.

These judgements obviously were delivered much before the dawn of the era of online gaming and did not at that point in contemplate online rummy that involves playing not with other individuals but with computer technology where there is no skill involved from all the sides, thereby making it a game of chance.

Similarly, inK.R. Lakshmanan Vs. State of Tamil Naduand Ors[MANU/SC/0309/1996]the Supreme Court of India ruled that horse racing, chess, rummy, golf and baseball are all games of skill. It further held that betting on horse racing was a game of skill as it involved judging the form of the horse and the jockey, and the nature of the race, among other variable factors.

While taking a contrary view on playing rummy for stakes, In 2012, in the case ofTamilnadu v Mahalakshmi Cultural Association[MANU/TN/0741/2012 : 2012 (2) CTC 484], the Madras High Court, observed that although the game of rummy played with 13 cards is a game of skill predominantly, if it is played for stakes or any club or association makes profit out of the same, then it would tantamount to gambling and attract appropriate penal provisions. However, the Supreme Court vide order dated 18th August 2015 allowed the poker club Mahalakshmi Cultural Association to withdraw its Special Leave Petition as the members of the club had been acquitted of all the criminal charges in this regard by the trial court and specifically brought on record that the observations contained in the High Court order did not survive.

THE MODERN AND ACCORDANT WAY!

Recently, in the matter of the well-known fantasy sports game Dream 11 there were cases filed in various parts of India. The first Indian court to rule that fantasy sports games are games predominantly based on skill was the High Court of Punjab & Haryana in the matter ofVarun Gumber Vs. Union Territory of Chandigarh and Ors[MANU/PH/1265/2017], concerning the online fantasy sports based game Dream 11. In this case it was observed thatIt has been found that horse racing like foot racing, boat racing, football and baseball is a game of skill and judgment and not a game of chance. The aforementioned finding squarely applies to the present case. Even from the submissions and contentions of respondent-company and factual position admitted in writ petition, I am of the view that playing of fantasy game by any participant user involves (selecting a) virtual team by him which would certainly requires a considerable skill, judgment and discretion.Subsequently, inGurdeep Singh Sachar Vs. Union of India and Ors [MANU/SCOR/76102/2019], the Bombay High Court found that success in Dream 11s fantasy sports depend upon users exercise of skill based on superior knowledge, judgment and attention, and the result thereof is not dependent on the winning or losing of a particular team in the real world game on any particular day. It was concluded that it is undoubtedly a game of skill and not a game of chance.Further, the Jaipur High Court, inChandresh Sankhla vs The State of Rajasthan [MANU/RH/0182/2020], held that the result of a fantasy game depends on skill of the participant and not sheer chance, and winning or losing of the virtual team created by the participant is also independent of the outcome of the game or event in the real world. Further it was held that the format of online fantasy game is a game of mere skill, and it has protection under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution.

Further, while considering a petition pertaining to online gambling in cyber space, the Gujarat High Court in the case ofAmit M Nair v State of Gujarat [MANU/GJ/1308/2020], categorically directed the state to monitor online gambling games and take appropriate action under the law and also examine whether such games result in money laundering or violation of foreign exchange laws as well.

The Law Commission of India headed by Justice B. S. Chauhan, a former judge of the Supreme Court was mandated by the Government of India to make recommendations on the possibilities of legalization of sports betting in India and the review of Gaming Legislations with a view to provide for a Central licensing regime.

The Law Commission received public comments and held active discussions with all stakeholders Thereby developing a robust report in support of a regime to legalise the already burgeoning gambling industry in India. The report on legalizing betting and gambling in India released in July 2018, contained the following key recommendations:

1. Need for autonomous regulation for gambling and betting industry.

2. Certain skill centric games should be made an exception to the prohibition on gambling.

3. Only an operator holding a valid license granted by the game licensing authority should be allowed to provide betting and gambling services.

4. Two categories of gambling were suggested i.e., proper and small gambling based on higher and lower income groups. A person belonging to higher income group would be able to put higher stakes belonging to the proper gambling category whereas a person belonging to lower income must confine to small gambling and cannot be allowed to stake higher amounts.

5. All betting and gambling transactions ought to be linked with Aadhaar/PAN card of the operator and the participant/player to protect the public from aftereffects and increase transparency.

6. The enactment related to betting and gambling should be enacted in such a way that ensures protection of the vulnerable section of society from exploitation.

7. Any income derived from such activities should be made taxable under the applicable tax laws in India.

8. Transaction between operators and participant/player to be made mandatorily cashless and any cash transaction should be penalized by an enactment.

Internet gambling presents essentially many of the same concerns that the traditional gambling activities have raised throughout the years like the likelihood of addiction, the possibility of fraud etc. The supporters of a ban of Internet gambling maintain that outlawing the activity for all individuals is the only way to ensure that a segment of the population, children, will be adequately protected from corruption.

However, it is evident from judicial interpretation in India that the question of whether a particular game is a game of skill or chance is to be decided basis facts of each case. As much as there is uniformity in approach of the courts in India while deciding what constitutes a game of skill or chance, with the advent of technologies, the latest online games seem to stand on a thin line between skill or chance as online games are still gray areas in Indian legislations. It will be worth the wait to see if the petition against the beloved Ludo will prompt the enactment of an exclusive legislation.

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Are you skilled enough to take a chance? A legal and regulatory analysis of gambling laws in India - Lexology

Gambling is as human as desire, hope, despair, and joy. Predicting the outcome of an event is key to the survival of any species. Balancing risk and reward is a daily function. Do you cross the road here, or walk 200 metres and use the zebra crossing?

Ever since Caveman A sat in his cave, with Caveman B, watching their mate Dave wrestle with a sabre-toothed tiger, and uttered the immortal words: dave is in trouble. My moneys on the tiger; betting has been a reality. Its one of mankinds oldest activities.

In Asia, betting games are recorded in both the ancient Sanskrit epics: the Ramayana and the Mahbhrata. Both date back thousands of years. In China, board games are mentioned at the birth of Chinese civilisation, in 2100 BC. From the very start of recorded history, games, dice, and betting are mentioned. Archaeologists have unearthed ancient dice, tiles, and games. In the days before Netflix, entertainment came with the roll of a die and a bet on the side. Heres a breakdown of betting in Asias big three: China, India, and Japan.

Head to any land-based casino and there is a very good chance you will see, at least, a handful of Chinese players at the tables. Luck, numerology, suppression, and superstition have all combined to make gambling a huge part of Chinese culture.

Over the centuries, the Chinese imperial system has repressed betting, making it illegal and sending it underground. If life teaches us one lesson, it is that prohibition is counter-productive.

Dice-like objects have been found in Asia as far back as 3,000 BC. By 1,000 BC, there were already gambling houses in China which hosted animal fighting, dice, mah jong, and lotteries. In 200 BC, the Great Wall of China was repaired with monies raised through a game similar to Keno called the white pigeon game; named because the birds carried the results between villages.

Throughout Chinese history, the various dynasties have tried to crack down on gambling. Forced tenure in the army, 100 lashes, hand amputation, and death were all employed to dissuade the problem gambler. Even the communist party promised to eradicate the great social ill.

Today, Chinese tourists flock to Macau where old school games like fan tan and pai gow still draw a crowd, sitting alongside the blackjack, roulette, and baccarat. Lotteries in China are a national obsession and horse track racing is making a comeback.

After China, India is the worlds most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people. These days, gambling is tightly regulated; both the casino owner and the player are fined, if they are caught gambling illegally.

Historically, gambling was a hugely popular pastime in both ancient and colonial India. In the Rig Veda, an Indian text from 1700 BC, a gambler pleads with the dice to spare him. Throughout the medieval period, gambling persisted. One of the most popular forms was Satta or numbers; here the bets were made on opium, gold, and cotton prices, as well as the amount of rainfall.

Gambling continued during the British rule. It was a highly profitable form of taxation for the colonial rulers. However, political pressure and problem gambling led to the 1867 Public Gambling Act which still stands today. The act prohibits both visiting and running a gambling house. There are currently only three states in India that have casinos. A staggering statistic for such a huge country.

The first recorded reference to gambling in Japan is fairly modern by the standards of India and China, taking place in around 635 AD. A reference is made to the game of sugo-roku (double sixes), enjoyed by the nations ruler: Emperor Temmu. However, not everyone in the family approved. When his daughter Empress Jito assumed the throne, she banned the pastime.

In the next two centuries, gambling activity became rampant, with people wagering enthusiastically in cock fights, horse races, and cricket fights (the insect not the sport!). Professional gamblers, known as bakuto, were the forerunners to the modern day yakuza. They would travel from town to town with their cards and dice, hustling a living.

Popular Japanese betting games include cho-han. Here a shirtless dealer sits in the kneeling position with two dice. You bet either cho (even) or han (odd). Thats it. Pachinko is another hugely popular Japanese game and one of the few gambling games legal in Japan today.

In conclusion: gambling has deep and often troubled roots in Asia. In all three countries, gambling is still heavily regulated but popular. These days, governments can see the value in taxation and the failure of prohibition. Responsible regulation looks like the future for these growing economies.

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The Origins & History of Gambling in China, India, and Japan - blog.casino.com

Five former casino inspectors from Victoria's independent gambling regulator.

The untold story of five casino inspectors who knew Crown's dirty secrets but say they were stonewalled and silenced.

An old gaming inspector's badge sits inside Peter "Macca"McCormack's wallet. The accompanying photo ID is stamped with faint blue letters: "Retired".

But old habits die hard.

Parked beneath the concrete overpass leading into Melbourne's Crown Casino, he scans the seedy patch of the city between him and the casino, as the echoes of passing cars ricochet overhead.

"As inspectors, we believed our role was to keep the casino crime-free," he says.

Four Corners

His eyes dart as he surveys the scenes that play out before him; a group of cleaners bundle out of a visibly unroadworthy car, a momentarily unaccompanied child is reunited with her mother, and a petty thief and regular patron at Crown is spotted passing by in the rear-view mirror.

This is a spot he would come to before he began his shifts at the casino, during his 30-odd years as a senior inspector and team leader for Victoria's independent gambling watchdog.

"We would walk the gaming floor, we would always be dressed in corporate clothing," he says.

"All the dealers and the pit bosses, they knew who we were."

Inspectors work for the regulator and are supposed to have oversight of the casino one of their most important functions is to keep out criminal influence and infiltration.

While Peter's eye for detail served him well to observe criminal activity, he says he was told by management it was not their responsibility to act on it.

"I would often see loan sharking, in the gaming pits," he says.

"We were told, 'That's not our problem, that's a police matter,' or, 'It's Crown's problem if there's loan sharking.'

"I had drug deals happen right in front of me, where a little plastic bag of powder and the money's exchanged right in front of me.

"But again, we were told, 'No, it's a police matter, not our matter.'

"A lot of the things that we would report up the chain of any sort of criminal activity, just disappeared into oblivion, we never heard of anything further about it."

Over the years, inspectors say they lost access to parts of the casino, were shadowed by Crown staff in high-roller rooms, and felt their presence was unwelcome.

"I felt that Crown were running our office. When they wanted things changed, things got changed," he says.

"We'd be told off by a manager for doing our job, because Crown had complained about what we had been doing on the gaming floor, who we might've spoken to, or how we dealt with it."

Peter is one of five former inspectors now speaking out for the first time.

Four Corners

He says they feared if they told the media what was happening they'd be fined or fired.

"I haven't got a job to lose anymore, so I'm not worried." Peter says.

As Crown casino became engulfed by scandals revealing mass money laundering and the pursuit of commercial relationships with a parade of organised crime figures, these men watched on as the dirty secrets they'd been forced to keep unravelled.

They've told Four Corners their roles at the casino were constantly undermined as the watchdog they worked for gave Crown what it wanted again and again.

One of the inspectors on Peter's team was former Victoria Police officer Danny Lakasas.

Danny says he once ran a 12-month operation to track the use of counterfeit notes at the casino methodically tracking dates, times and gaming table numbers, as well as who the dealers and patrons were.

He says when he compiled what he'd found and passed it up the chain, nothing happened.

Four Corners

"Somebody from intel came down then, took all the information, said, 'Thanks very much.' That was the last I heard of it," he says.

"You get disheartened after a while, and you start thinking, well, why am I busting my backside in doing all this work when it's not going to go anywhere and nothing's going to happen?"

Danny and Peter were employed by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR).

It was formed in 2012 when the then-Liberal state government merged the gaming and liquor authorities saying it would increaseefficiency.

Inspectors on the ground say it created chaos. Budgets and staff numbers were cut by 30 per cent.

Experienced gaming inspectors were routinely called away from the gaming floor to conduct liquor licence checks at cafes, bars and restaurants.

"It was a takeover by liquor, clearly. There seemed to be a directive from above, whether that was at state government level, to focus in on liquor activities," says Rod Walker, another former Victorian gaming inspector.

Rod says the liquor inspections became "tick and flick events, just so that you could reach your KPIs".

Four Corners/Unsplash

The inspectors' reaction to the new policywas visceral.

"Whoever invented the word KPIs, in my opinion, should be shot," Peter says.

"Morale went down considerably. They weren't interested in doing proper investigations, it was alltick and flick.

"What I wanted to do was investigate proper crime."

Peter says there were many shifts where the casino had no inspector at all.

"That's still happening," hesays.

"It is in the legislation that we must have casino inspectors there all the time."

As the regulator was undergoing this upheaval, James Packer ramped up Crown's aggressive expansion into the Chinese high-roller market.

VIP gamblers were brought into Melbourne by third party agents known as junket operators.

To Danny, the casino suddenly became more vulnerable to organised crime.

"What changed then with the junkets coming in was the amount of Chinese people coming in, having their own rooms, and gambling basically millions of dollars," Danny says.

Four Corners

"What we saw was a lot of money change hands.

"I don't know where this money came from, or how it was accounted for, or whether the state was receiving their cut of taxes at that time, because it was all mainly cash."

Crown had an ace up its sleeve.

Years earlier, in 2004, the state government had given the casino the power to approve the same junket operators that it would end up making hundreds of millions of dollars from.

The former head of the regulator, Peter Cohen, has told Four Corners it was his idea to hand over the power to Crown.

"The idea at the time was that Crown actually had more resources than we had to undertake due diligence checks. They could engage private investigators," Mr Cohen says.

The regulator's job was to audit the process to ensure Crown was adequately assessing the junket operators.

"Like Ronald Reagan would say, 'Trust, but verify,'" Mr Cohensays.

Barry McGann, who was a gaming inspector from 2007 to 2018, says this was a key moment that opened the door to money laundering.

"For the commission to give up their powers to allow Crown to approve their own junket operations, in my opinion, was a mistake," Barry says.

The inspectors still had the ability to audit junket operators and the VIP players Crown flew into Melbourne, but the regulator had to rely on the casino to provide accurate and extensive information for any background checks.

"I'd order the report.If there were any players there that [Crown] didn't want me to see, there was nothing stopping them from wiping them out, or taking it off the database. I'd be none the wiser,"Barry says.

Four Corners

Because of the lack of access to independent information, Barry says"it would be hard to associate [the players] with any illegal play or triads".

The junket audits were also rarely done.

From late 2013, audits stopped for close to a year, until a Four Corners program exposed that Crown Melbourne was dealing with junket operators linked to criminal syndicates.

After the story ran, Danny Lakasas says he received a panicked phone call from management asking to see the latest junket audit.

"I said, 'Well, there hasn't been an audit done for probably six to 12 months.' When they said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because we were told not to do any audits, because they were being reviewed.'"

Crown was not only approving these junket operators, some of whom had links to organised crime, but the regulator was doing little to scrutinise the individuals who were coming in and gambling hundreds of millions of dollars in the casino's private rooms.

Terry McCabe understands better than most how the fear of punishment can be a strong motivating force for compliance.

Before becoming a gaming inspector in 2004 he was a senior detective in Victoria Police's Arson Squad.

"For a regulator to be completely effective, there needs to be a climate of likely being caught out, likely being exposed. [While I was there] I'm not sure that that risk really existed," Terry says.

Crown pays the Victorian government over $200 million a year in taxes, and Terry believes this ends up influencing how the state-based regulator operates.

"Governments all around the world are addicted to gambling as much as many patrons are, and regulation of a casino is extremely difficult against that background."

Terry noticed the growing frustration amongst inspectors who felt they were not able to properly hold Crown to account.

"The troops worked hard. Many of the troops were among the original casino inspectorate and had done a lot of great work, but it didn't come as any surprise that, when that good work was done, it would amount to very little."

"The disappointment became disenchantment and disenchantment became, not disinterest, but, 'Here we go again.'"

Short of cancelling a casino's licence, one of the strongest powers at the regulator's disposal is the ability to force the casino to cease a relationship with one of its players or junket operators.

The VCGLR has only used this power once, despite a series of connections that have been identified between junket operators and organised crime syndicates.

The one case where the regulator used this power was with high-roller Richard Yong, who was convicted of illegal bookmaking after an undercover FBI sting at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in 2014.

ButFour Corners has revealed that after the regulator twice wrote to Crown ordering it to cease dealing with Yong, the casino resisted and continued to deal with him.

The regulator also had concerns about one of Yong's close associates who was also a VIP client at Crown, Paul Phua a well-known Malaysian poker player and unregulated bookmaker. He is also alleged to be a high-ranking member of the 14K triad.

The regulator dropped its pursuit of Phua, claiming it had "insufficient evidence" to order Crown to cease dealing with him.

In 2016, Four Corners revealed that Victoria Police had serious concerns about Phua's alleged links to triads and his status as a Crown VIP.

Terry McCabe is not familiar with either case, but says the casino had a reputation for pushing back against the VCGLR.

"I think Crown had a very robust legal department who were very strong and very aggressive in the way they dealt with the regulator."

"I don't believe in all instances we were as strong back."

In 2019, frustration inside the regulator reached a tipping point.

Two whistleblowers contacted the office of independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie with evidence of suspected money laundering at Crown Melbourne.

One unnamed inspector provided footage of a young man with a cooler bag full of cash exchanging it for chips inside a room run exclusively by the junket operator Suncity.

"[The chips] shortly thereafter were cashed in a very easy, quick and effective way to launder millions of dollars," Mr Wilkie says.

"Importantly, that inspector came to me after he had tried to send that footage up the chain within the regulator and it was not acted on.''

The regulator identified the man in the vision as Chenkang Pan, a junket representative and premium player at Crown Melbourne.

While the watchdog wanted him banned, the casino refused to accept it was him because his face was blurred in the leaked video.

Crown hada copy of Pan's photo ID and access to the dates he was in the Suncity room, but still said it wasn't enough.

Andrew Wilkie takes issue with Crown refusing to accept the regulator's word.

"Crown Casino is treating us like mugs. They know the big names that are in their casino. It's part of their business model."

Inspectors from the Victorian regulator, who were the eyes and ears in the casino, say they were not only discouraged from looking at money laundering, but actively blocked.

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Crown Casinos power concerned these gambling inspectors. Now theyre speaking out - ABC News

KUALA LUMPUR: Anti-gambling raids have led to the arrest of two suspects believed to be part of a gambling operation.

Brickfields OCPD Asst Comm Anuar Omar said in a statement on Wednesday (July 7) that the raids were conducted on Tuesday (July 6) in Taman Sri Sentosa and Taman Yarl here.

"The second raid led to the seizure of a computer which we believe was used in the gambling operation, as well as RM40,000 in cash," he said.

Both suspects, aged 27 and 51 years, will be brought to court for a remand order.

In an unrelated incident, a report lodged by a man over a supposed snatch theft was deemed false after several queries were left unanswered by the complainant.

"The 28-year-old man lodged a report on July 6 stating that he had been attacked by two unknown men. He claimed that a bag containing RM200, documents and his IC were stolen then.

"However, during questioning the man was unable to provide the location of the supposed incident, and was drunk," ACP Anuar Omar said.

The man has been granted bail.

Read more from the original source:

Two held in anti-gambling raids in KL thought to be part of syndicate - The Star Online