Crown Casino will be forced to abide by the same rules as other businesses and limit the number of people in its gaming room to under one hundred, following an outcry over its recent exemption to strict social distancing measures.
Earlier this week, there were reports that Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton had granted Crown Casino an exemption to the tough new guidelines, after other venues were instructed to limit patronage to less than one hundred.
In a press conference today, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that this exemption has been pulled. Per reports in The Age, he said:
“We now, with additional cases and on the best medical advice … the chief health officer has effectively revoked that (exemption) and now Crown like every other venue will need to comply with the new orders.”
Crown Casino in Melbourne had previously announced plans to turn off every second poker machine and ban gatherings of more than 450 people in a bid to comply with recommendations around social distancing.
Earlier this week, the ABC’s chief Victorian state politics reporter Richard Willingham reported that the casino had been designated a “unique” space in Victoria, which was enough to give it an exemption from the otherwise comprehensive ban on non-essential indoor gatherings over over 100 people.
