February 7, 2016
Gangsters in the drug trade are using betting chips as currency and are said to have turned Melbourne’s Crown Casino into a den for dealing and money laundering, prompting a Victorian judge to describe the establishment as a “blot on the community”.
Saying that he “hesitates to be too critical” of the Melbourne landmark, County Court Judge Michael McInerney made the scathing remarks after hearing yet another drug-related case in which the casino played a prominent role.
According to The Sunday Age and the ABC, the casino hosted a Malaysian high-roller with the links to the 14K Triad syndicate just last month; an earlier Fairfax report suggests that another heavy punter, who lived in near squalor, gambled close to $1 billion at Crown over the course of about 10 years – until he was shot in the face in 2014.