Peter Lawrence resigns as VIP general manager at Crown Melbourne

Lawrence had provided damaging testimony about corporate governance at Crown’s Melbourne casino during last year’s royal commission.

Australia.- Peter Lawrence has resigned from his role as general manager of VIP customer service in the Mahogany Room at Crown Melbourne. Last year, Lawrence gave damning testimony at the Royal Commission into Crown regarding the case of high roller Ahmed Hasna.

Hasna claimed he gambled at the casino venue almost every other day, sometimes for up to 26 hours, between 1993 and 2019. He filed a federal court lawsuit alleging Crown knew or should have known he had a gambling addiction.

Lawrence told the inquiry that Crown’s treatment of Ahmed Hasna in 2016 was irresponsible and “probably” predatory and lucrative. He also told the royal commission that Mahogany Room staff routinely breached Victoria’s casino control laws by allowing customers to buy chips with cheques addressed to themselves, not Crown Melbourne, as is required by law.

Crown Resorts was finally deemed unsuitable to hold a licence for its Crown Melbourne casino. However, the operator was allowed to keep its licence under stricter conditions. If Hasna’s lawsuit goes to court, Lawrence is expected to be called to testify.

In order to support people experiencing gambling harm, the Victorian Government has recently introduced new legislation through which, every Australian resident who uses pokies must set a maximum loss limit before playing.

Other new measures include limiting cash transactions to $1,000 per 24 hours in a bid to crack down on money laundering.