The Victorian Gambling and Casino Management Commission (VGCCC) has disciplined Crown Melbourne (Crown) for failing to pay adequate casino taxes over a long period of time and fined it $20 million.
The Royal Commission investigated casino operators and found that Crown improperly claimed tax credits by including the cost of certain promotional activities in the amount paid out in the jackpot. The Royal Commission also found that Crown deliberately concealed the nature of these deductions from the Victorian Gambling and Liquor Regulatory Commission, the predecessor of the VGCCC.
The substance of these deductions was only revealed when the royal commission found a document specifying the quantum of unpaid casino taxes among the vast documents Crown released to the royal commission for other purposes.
When the act was revealed by a royal commission, Crown accepted that it was wrong to claim these tax credits, and has since paid Victoria about $61.5 million, including about $37.4 million in unpaid casino taxes and about $24.1 million in fine interest.
Today, VGCCC fined $20 million for Crown’s action.
“Crown and other game licensees have an important obligation to pay game taxes to the state,” said President Françon. “Not only did Crown violate that obligation by claiming unqualified tax credits, Crown has also made significant efforts to cover up. The VGCCC will not tolerate this behavior. We expect licensees to comply with their tax obligations and be transparent in their transactions with us. We fined Crown significant $20 million today to send a clear message that this type of behavior will result in severe disciplinary action. The fine also sends an important message to other gambling operators about the importance of complying with their obligations to pay gambling taxes and the need for frank and public transactions with regulators.”
This is the fourth time the VGCCC has used stronger enforcement to discipline Crown for actions caught by the royal commission. Since receiving these powers, the VGCCC has fined Crown a total of $250 million. 안전 슬롯사이트