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Don’t expect the opulence of Monte Carlo. Picture: Monaco Government Tourist BureauSource:Supplied
Poker at Crown Melbourne Crown Casino Melbourne Poker Room. Crown Casino, Australia's largest casino, has a 50-table poker room that offers a variety of cash games and tournament play. The room is located on Level B2 of the Crown Entertainment Complex and is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. Whilst it is a large facility, I'm not a huge fan of the Crown Casino. It lacks decent customer service, and a feeling of being a unified facility. I much prefer the Casinos of Vegas, or even the NSW border clubs or those clubs in Sydney. Parking, drinks and food at the Crown are also almost always over-priced for what they offer.
THE first thing you notice when you enter Crown Casino’s Mahogany Room is the stench.
While the high roller room got a $212 million upgrade a few years ago, there’s one thing that detracts from its opulence: Punters are allowed to smoke.
“It does stink — every second person is a smoker in there,” a member, who did not wish to be named, told news.com.au.
“I think that’s disgraceful, but they pay so much tax that the government comes up with this ridiculous legislation that says smoking is allowed.”
Despite its elite reputation, the vibe was not quite as glamorous as you might expect; like “Las Vegas without the show”.
“I’ve been to a couple of smaller casinos in Europe, where everyone is dressed beautifully, it’s not super crowded, there’s a beautiful buffet in the middle — it’s just much more sophisticated.
“The only dress code at Mahogany Room is you can’t wear thongs or sneakers. Of course, if you’re a high roller, you can wear what you want to wear.”
BIG INCENTIVES
With Crown in turmoil over the arrest of its employees in China, which has clamped down on alleged illegal promotion of its gambling offering to citizens, how are high rollers treated at the casino?
The source news.com.au spoke to says that, while he’s been gambling at the establishment for quite some time, he hasn’t scored that many perks.
“I’ve gotten very few benefits; I might have got some grand final tickets once,” he said.
“But I know other people who would ask for a lot. I never asked for things.”
However, it was a different story for the so-called “whales”, mega rich gamblers from overseas, whose lucrative patronage was hard won.
“As an average Mahogany club member you might get a free meal, invited to races, that’s it,” the gambler said. “But if you’re an overseas punter, you’ve got the pick of casinos around the world.”
He said he had heard of rebates on gambling losses as high as 30 per cent being offered to overseas gamblers, who have also been known to score business class flights to Melbourne.
“The incentives that they give are quite substantial, but most people are interested in getting rebates on their losses. But it’s usually only for overseas punters.”
The VIP Private Gaming Salon on the Mahogany Room floor at Crown. Picture: David CairdSource:News Limited
‘LIKE BETTING WITH MATCHSTICKS’
While it was impossible to identify visiting overseas gamblers simply by appearance, he said there were some telltale characteristics.
“The men tend to have this colourful way of dressing,” he said.
“Everything is designer. You’ll see them wearing a jacket and they leave the label on the sleeve, so you know it’s Prada, Gucci or Versace.”
Expensive handbags and $50,000 watches were a regular sight at the baccarat table, where high rollers placed bets of as much as $300,000 a hand.
“I was there a few weeks back and this guy had about $700,000 worth of chips in front of him,” he said. “And the money just seems like they’re betting with matchsticks.”
MURKY ALLEGATIONS
The world of high rollers has been documented in court cases examining alleged links to organised crime.
Vietnamese-born suspected drug trafficker Pete Hoang gambled close to $1 billion at Crown before he was arrested in the Mahogany Room bathroom in 2012 and charged with money laundering. Two years later he was dead, gunned down in a darkened Croydon Park street.
A court heard that Crown had allowed him to maintain four different identities at the casino and given him free business class flights, accommodation, and alcohol, as well as cash gifts of up to $100,000, Fairfax media reported.
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LEVELS OF ACCESS
Mahogany Room memberships are not created equal; in descending order, they are ranked in five categories: black, platinum, gold, silver and bronze.
Like FlyBuys for gamblers, Crown Signature Club points are accrued depending on how much gamblers spend, and the humble bronze members only get a glimpse of the hedonism on offer.
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To gain access to the VIP areas, you’ll need to clock up $15,000 within six months to earn a platinum membership.
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And as our gambler is well aware, punters are caught up in a losing game.
“Casinos are built on losers, not winners. All the marble and stuff is paid for by the gamblers,” he said.
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“And they know every dollar you lose or win.”
For help or information call Gambler’s Help on 1800 858 858 or Lifeline on 131 114.