Parramatta pub fined for pokies manipulation and gambling breaches
A Parramatta pub has been fined after it was found guilty of offering patrons gambling inducements.
Ironically, the disgruntled general manager who reported the incidents was herself convicted of stealing thousands of dollars.
Between 2017 and 2018, Rose and Crown Hotel staff allowed at least $145,000 in credit and debit withdrawals to be made from the hotel’s eftpos machine, loaned gamblers money from the safe and provided free cigarettes and alcohol to keep people playing the pokies.
Samantha Glynn, who was the hotel’s general manager at the time, is alleged to have stolen close to $400,000 by manipulating the poker machine payout system by changing the values on leftover credit tickets and creating fake tickets.
When Ms Glynn was caught and suspended, she reported the hotel to Liquor & Gaming NSW.
An investigation by Liquor & Gaming NSW found multiple breaches, which resulted in the matter being referred to both the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority and NSW Police.
The Rose and Crown ended with several licence breaches to its name including: positioning an ATM in the gaming room; not making contact cards available to players; having gambling-related signage and gaming machines visible from outside the hotel; and supplying alcohol and operating gaming machines outside of stipulated trading hours on Good Friday.
Phil Crawford, Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority Chair, said the hotel was giving cash advances via a system of fake transactions.
“Staff used phantom transactions to mask cash withdrawals for gambling, but even more incredibly, they gave out loans from the safe,” Mr Crawford said.
“At one point, a manager loaned a total of $8,000 from the pub’s safe to a patron who wanted to keep playing the pokies. A security guard also used the safe to loan $800 to another gambler.
Ms Glynn was charged with theft totalling $15,000 and was sentenced to an 18-month intensive correction order.
The hotel’s licensee RC One Pty Ltd was fined $107,358 by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority.
Approved manager Paul Camkin was fined $10,000 and disqualified for 12 months from being a licensee or being the approved manager of a hotel.
Associates Jason Marlow and Damien Kelly were reprimand and with Camkin ordered to pay the costs of the Authority’s investigation.
Irit Jackson, 28th February 2022
