For full details of the Crown Melbourne COVIDSafe Plan, please click here. Crown Towers, Crown Metropol and Crown Spa are now open. For further information on venue re-openings click here. Our casino has received approval to extend operations from 9 December 2020 with a range of restrictions. For further information click here. Late 90s – Introduction of first online poker rooms; June 1997 – First poker offerings at Crown Casino, Melbourne; January 1998 – Planet Poker launches, the first big online poker room; June 1998 – First Australasian Poker Championship at Crown Melbourne; June 2001 – The Interactive Gambling Act is passed by Australia’s government. Las Vegas Poker Room At Crown Casino, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 40 likes 649 were here. The closure of Crown Melbourne, however, would have a damaging economic impact. The casino and hotel complex is Victoria's largest single-site employer in the private sector, with more than 12,500. Pai Gow poker can be played at Crown Casinos of Melbourne and Perth. Crown Casino Melbourne is also referred to as Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex is located on the south bank of the Yarra River, in Melbourne, Australia. Crown Casino is a unit of Crown Limited, and the first casino of the now–international Crown brand.

Crown Melbourne will reopen some gaming operations this week for the first in almost eight months, but it will likely be some time before the famous Crown Poker room can shuffle up and deal once more.

In an ASX filing on Monday, Crown Resorts revealed it has been granted permission to “commence the operation of a limited number of electronic gaming machines and electronic table games,” at Crown Melbourne, most likely from this Thursday 12 November.

However, those limitations mean only VIP patrons will be allowed in for the time being at one of 10 designated areas, with a maximum of 10 patrons in each area, and smoking will not be permitted. There will also be a requirement for every second gaming machine to be disabled while no single patron will be allowed on the gaming floor for more than 90 minutes per day.

The main gaming floor at Crown Melbourne, which shut its doors on 23 March as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the country, will remain off limits while there is no word on when poker will be allowed to return, and with what restrictions.

It also seems almost certain that the 2021 Aussie Millions – originally due to kick off in mid-January – will be postponed until later in the year. The 2020 Aussie Millions was one of the last major tournament series in the country to be completed before COVID, with the Crown Poker Championship, Melbourne Poker Championship and Victorian Poker Championship all subsequently cancelled.

Star Entertainment Group has also cancelled all poker for 2020 including WSOP Circuit Sydney, previously planned for late November.

Crown Resorts CEO Ken Barton said Monday, “We have been working for some time with the Victorian Government and health authorities to determine how we can safely re-open Crown Melbourne and have developed extensive physical distancing and hygiene measures to allow re-opening in a safe manner.”

“We are pleased to be able to commence the process of welcoming back our employees and customers to Crown Melbourne.”

The company said it had reopened its Crown Towers hotel from Monday, while some retail and F&B outlets opened from last week.

Don’t expect the opulence of Monte Carlo. Picture: Monaco Government Tourist BureauSource:Supplied

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.”

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MURKY ALLEGATIONS

The world of high rollers has been documented in court cases examining alleged links to organised crime.

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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.

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.

“And they know every dollar you lose or win.”

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For help or information call Gambler’s Help on 1800 858 858 or Lifeline on 131 114.