The NSW Independent Casino Commission fined Crown Sydney A$1.75 million and The Star Sydney A$500,000 on Wednesday, a combined A$2.25 million, after finding that a 16-year-old had gambled at both venues using a fake driver’s licence.
At Crown, the boy visited 19 times between April and August 2025. During those visits he gambled more than A$21,000 on table games, was served 91 alcoholic drinks, and obtained silver status using the false identification.
The Star let him in three times during the same period, and he gambled almost A$400 on the casino floor. On a fourth attempt, he was turned away when staff detected the fake licence, and he also obtained membership of The Star Club under the false identity.
Reporting on the scale of his access differed slightly. One account said he made 22 visits in all, while others broke that down as 19 at Crown and three at The Star, but the core finding was the same: the boy repeatedly entered both casinos over several months in 2025.
The commission said both operators accepted responsibility for significant failures in identity verification and customer onboarding. Philip Crawford, the NICC chief commissioner, said keeping those checks effective was essential to protect minors and detect fraud and criminal activity, and that the seriousness of letting a 16-year-old into gaming areas was not reduced by the casinos’ acceptance of fault.
He added that Crown’s case also involved the illegal service and consumption of complimentary alcohol. Liquor and Gaming NSW referred the breaches to the commission and will keep monitoring the casinos’ compliance with internal controls, while Dimitri Argeres called the breakdown in safeguards unacceptable and said the young person had suffered actual harm.
As covered in June, the commission had already ordered The Star Sydney to pay A$10 million and ring-fence A$5 million over separate financial-crime and responsible-gambling failures. The boy has also been banned from entering either casino for five years from when he turns 18.
