But instead of encouraging him to gamble responsibly and checking on his financial and mental wellbeing,Mr Hasna says Crown enticed him back to the casino with gifts,lavish dinners,holidays and free tickets to concerts and sports events.
Mr Hasna’s experience was raised in June at Victoria’s royal commission into Crown’s casino licence,examining how the James Packer-backed group invited himback to its exclusive Mahogany Room to gamble on credit even after he lost $100,000 of chips bought with a cheque that later bounced,and after he told staff he was in financial trouble and was considering banning himself from the casino.
Crown’s head of VIP customer service,Peter Lawrence,told the commission that the casino’s actions were irresponsible and“probably” predatory.
In his court application,Mr Hasna claims Crown did not stop him from playing even after his mother twice came to the casino and pleaded with staff to stop her son from gambling away “all of the family’s money”.
Crown management did not permanently ban Mr Hasna until December 2020 despite “several recommendations” from Crown security to do so following abusive outbursts towards staff when he was losing,the claim says.
Mr Hasna alleges Crown ignored these incidents as a sign he was gambling dangerously,despite them being listed in its Responsible Gambling Code of Conduct as an indicator players were being harmed.
According to his claim,Mr Hasna lost $30,000 after coming into the casino to collectfree tickets to a Phil Collins show, and he also lost money while collecting four corporate box tickets to the 2017 AFL grand final. The tickets were cancelled after Crown caught Mr Hasna trying to scalp them,the claim says.