Crown Officials Faces Charges of Luring Chronic Gambler Harry Kakavas Back on the Baccarat Table

On October 30th, 2008, Crown Casino Chief Executive Officer Rowen Craigie was allegedly a part of an elaborate plan to target a problem gamblers who spend over $1.4 billion in a fourteenth month gaming spree while being banned from every single casino facility in Australia. The astounding allegations are part of an amended Supreme Court documents which also show that gaming addict Harry Kakavas, who is suing the Crown Casino for damages, wore a hearing device that recorded Crown's senior managers allegedly trying to lure him back to the Southbank location.

Crown and senior officials Mr. Craigie and Chief Operating Officer John Williams will face serious charges of misconduct in what is shaping to be as an historic case for the Australian casino market. During a conversation recorded by Harry Kakavas on February 26th, 2007, Crown senior chief executive Richard Doggert allegedly said that he had been directed by Crown chief operating officer John Williams to contact Mr. Kakavas and persuade him to come back to Crown's baccarat gaming tables.

According to the amended statement of claim, Williams asked Doggert to persuade the plaintiff(Harry Kakavas) to play at Crown's baccarat tables agains because Williams wanted to look clean if Kakavas' exclusion order could be canceled. During another wire recording on February 20th, 2007, Mr. Kakavas, who is a property developer from the Gold Coast claims that he was told by Mr. Doggert that the Crown officials was aware of an interstate exclusion order in 2004 but did nor care about what happened in NSW or other states.

Crown management were also aware of the chronic gaming addiction and fragile mental health of Mr. Kakavas as early as 1998. Crown's general manager for community affairs, Bill Horman, warned of several suicide threats in a statement made for Mr. Kakavas in a separate trial.

Sunday, November 16, 2008
John Palmer