Crown Melbourne has been whacked with a record AU$120 million (US$77 million) fine by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) for failures within its Responsible Service of Gambling obligations uncovered during last year’s Royal Commission.

The fine is the second major financial hit Crown Melbourne has suffered since being found unsuitable to hold its casino license, with the VGCCC having already issued a fine of AU$80 million (US$51 million) in May for Crown’s illegal use of China Union Pay cards for gambling transactions.

This latest punishment covers two serious breaches, the VGCCC said, with Crown found to have “breached its code of conduct for the Responsible Service of Gambling over many years by consistently failing to intervene to prevent gambling harm, allowing customers to often gamble for long periods without a break, sometimes for more than 24 hours.”

Crown also failed to comply with a statutory direction by the regulator to take all reasonable steps to prevent patrons from using plastic picks and other devices to simulate automatic play when gambling on certain electronic gaming machines.