Springvale venue facing charges for allegedly allowing illegal payouts of gambling winnings

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) has charged the operator of Springvale gaming venue Greyhound Promotions Pty Ltd for allegedly failing to ensure payouts of electronic gaming machine credits were made legally.

Greyhound Promotions Pty Ltd is facing 5 charges of allegedly contravening the Gambling Regulation Act 2003.

It is alleged that the licensee:

• allowed a practice in the venue where a person would approach a player who had substantial credits on an electronic gaming machine and pay that player cash for those credits, and
• issued cheques to persons who were not the ones gambling on the electronic gaming machine when the money was won.

The charges could attract a maximum penalty of up to $80,770.20.

VGCCC CEO Annette Kimmitt said:

“Venues have a clear legal requirement to do all they can to ensure the industry is free from criminal influence.

Venue operators and their staff should check CCTV footage to verify the player is the one getting the payout when issuing cheques. They also need to be on the lookout for and stop people in their gaming machine area paying players cash for gaming machine credits.

“We are watching venues closely through data monitoring and intelligence to detect suspicious activity and working closely with other enforcement agencies to stamp out criminal activity. Venue operators should note that they also have a legal obligation to stamp out this activity within their venues.

As these charges are now before the courts, we will not be providing further comment.

Update 15/02/24 - The VGCCC withdrew the 5 charges regarding the prosecution of Greyhounds Promotions Pty Ltd and agreed to a regulatory outcome in this matter by placing further conditions on their licence. The Court ordered Greyhounds to pay the VGCCC for their costs associated with the matter to the amount of $6864.49. 

Background

In mid-2021, the VGCCC conducted cheque payment data analysis and detected suspicious activity. Greyhounds Promotions Pty Ltd was flagged as the top-ranked Victorian venue for issuing cheques over a period of time.

Following our initial investigation, the VGCCC alerted the Australian Federal Police (AFP). On 15 February 2022, a joint operation was launched by the AFP, AUSTRAC and the VGCCC into alleged money laundering.

Read our previous joint media release with AFP and AUSTRAC

Please direct queries about the AFP investigation to [email protected] or call 02 5126 9297.