Crown Casino Roulette Odds
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Casinos are in the business of cash.
It’s simple.
They almost always have the house edge, which means that gamblers are working with odds that aren’t in their favor.
Since the house almost always wins, there is a lot of money (cash or other currency forms like bitcoin and gold) in their vaults. This also means that some thief is looking for an easier, softer way to win it big.
There are a lot of casino movies about robbing, crooks, and big dreams.
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The Oceans 11 movie franchise is built on this dream.
Just in case you’ve been stranded on an island since the first Oceans 11 movie came out, here’s the plot:
- 2 high rollers (played by George Clooney and Brad Pitt) build a team of criminals.
- They plan to rip off all the money in the casino (Bellagio in Las Vegas) and win back Clooney’s love interest, Julia Roberts.
Casino robberies have been romanticized by Western culture. Rarely do the thieves get away. When they do, it’s not for long.
In this post, I’m going to tell you about the biggest (moneywise) heist in history and the most expensive drink ever sold.
This true story is an example of human faults, betrayal, and not knowing when to call it quits.
The Crown Casino Never Saw It Coming
In 2013, the Crown Casino in Melbourne Australia was swindled out of 33 million dollars (USD). I wish that there was more information on the internet about this, but the casino didn’t even report it to the local police.
You read that correctly.
The casino and its management didn’t report the biggest casino heist in history to the local police.
We’ll get into my theory why later.
A New Zealand businessman was invited to play at the casino’s high roller room. He had been a previous customer.
Much like American casinos, the Crown caters to the high roller players. Bigger bets almost always equal bigger losses. This means more money in the vault. You get the idea.
The businessman, millionaire James Manning, played 8 winning hands of blackjack to win a total of 32,000,000 Australian dollars (33 million USD). This tipped off the Crown Casino’s security.
It turns out that the VIP services manager had recruited Manning to come play in their high roller room that week. Manning was also scheduled to star in a record-setting event when he would buy “The Winston,” the most expensive drink in the world.
The Guinness Book of World Records would be there to record the purchase. The casino’s bar, Club 23, was gearing up for the event and the record being set by the bar.
How Did This Happen?
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This heist is reminiscent of the Ocean’s 11 original film. There is hacking, behind the scenes treason, and even a PR nightmare.
This is how it all went down:
- Manning and the VIP services manager worked ahead of time to hack into the casino’s security camera system. According to some tech experts, this is not a hard task.
- Now that they have access to the high-resolution camera across the casino, they can see everything they need to put Manning in a winning player position in the high roller room.
- The VIP services manager is also supposed to be involved in a $12,500 cognac drink launch. We will talk about that later.
- Manning checks into the casino with his family into a VIP villa. This will become the home base of the largest casino heist in history.
- James plays the eight winning hands with the help of the hacked security cameras and signaling from the VIP services manager.
- Casino security is starting to get curious. The Crown’s security team realizes it’s their own VIP services manager that is signaling to Manning how to win each of the hands.
- Manning leaves the casino floor with the biggest win in the casino’s history.
- Manning carries on as if nothing is out of place.
- In the middle of the night, the Crown security team discovers the heist and evicts Manning from the property. Here’s the kicker: Manning had not transferred the winning money (USD 33,000,000) to his personal account.
- Considering the money had not left the casino’s vault, they decided to not press charges. What they did do was expel him from the property, file a no-trespass order, and cancel the drink event.
- The casino didn’t contact local police as the money was still “in house.” Unfathomable, right?
Let’s Drink About It – The World’s Most Expensive Drink
Let’s talk about that expensive cognac drink. Manning was scheduled to buy the world’s most expensive drink. The goal was a PR event to set a world record for the most expensive drink.
What’s in a $12,500 drink?
“The Winston” has 1858-vintage Croizet Cuvee Leonie cognac.
Its namesake comes from the same vintage as Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower shared when they discussed the D-Day landings of WWII.
The Crown Casino Melbourne had a problem — an expensive problem. They had no buyer for their drink. The casino had no way of knowing that the buyer for the record-setting event would also attempt to steal $33,000,000 (USD) from the casino during the same trip.
The Guinness Book of World Records was on-site to view the event. A representative from Croziet, the owner of the 1886 bottle of cognac, was on-site to deliver the $150,000 bottle of cognac.
The event had been marketed worldwide to media and other industries. This was going to put Club 23 on the map.
So, what is a bar and casino to do with no buyer for their record-setting cocktail?
Manning had been banished from the casino, and who else had an extra $12.5k laying around for one cocktail?
The marketing team for the Crown Melbourne was scrambling to find a replacement buyer. This is where my theory comes in.
Great Plans Always Have a Fault
I have been in PR and marketing since I graduated from college. I have never organized an event of this type. I have had to scramble for coverage of a celebrity that decided to cancel an event at the last moment.
If I were on the PR/marketing team for the Crown, I wouldn’t notify the police either. The money is still in house. The buyer has been marketed as buying the drink. No buyer equals find a buyer.
I would silently sweep my $33 million problem under the rug and proceed like nothing happened. I wouldn’t want the blowback and would want to salvage what I could from this event.
The Crown, I think, had a similar idea. Let’s find a new buyer. No harm, no foul.
Almost a Record, but Not Quite
Two of the executive staff from the Crown – Vice President of VIP Services, Ishan Ratnam, and the Chief Operating Officer of Crown Hotels, Peter Crinis – approached Giang Nguyen.
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Nguyen is the biggest financial contributor to the Geelong Football Club. Geelong Football Club is a professional Australian rules soccer team based out of Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Ratnam and Crinis had another problem to tackle. Nguyen is a discreet spender. He is a regular at the Villa at the Crown Tower but isn’t known to throw around money. Unlike Manning, Nguyen wasn’t willing to throw down the $12,500 for the cost of the drink.
They came up with a workaround.
Nguyen would pay for the drink, and the casino would pay him back after the record was set, and the event was over.
Easy, right?
Not so much.
The casino was already swimming in a PR nightmare with the gambling scandal. Even though the casino didn’t report the robbery to the local police, the public knew. It was swirling around like wildfire on social media and traditional media outlets.
This event needed to go off without a hitch. Nguyen showed up and bought the drink with his own money. It was recorded, and the hosting bar, Club 23, would receive the world record for the most expensive drink ever sold.
There was one problem:
The bar didn’t actually sell the drink.
Nguyen showed up at Club 23 wearing casual clothes considering he was brought in for the high-end record-setting event. He was escorted by his friend, Ishan Ratnam.
He ordered the drink and paid for the drink.
He took a sip and left the unfinished drink on the bar.
Obviously, Nguyen was not interested in the record and was unimpressed by the entire event.
This raised some eyebrows with the media. Words soon leaked that Nguyen was paid back for the record expense.
Things went from bad to worse. Nguyen was transparent when he said he was just helping a friend. Not good.
Conclusion
As of the time of this post, the Crown Casino still holds the title for the biggest casino heist and the most expensive cocktail ever sold.
I had planned on sharing with you the top three biggest casino heists in history, but this one was too good to just give a couple paragraphs.
I’ll be posting about the other two contenders for the biggest casino heists in history in the second part of this 2-parter. Stay tuned.
Humans aren’t good at admitting defeat, neither is The Crown Casino Melbourne. I hope you enjoyed this ultra-PR fail story about cheating, casino heists, and marketing flops, check out part two here.
The Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex, located across 510,000 square metres (the equivalent of two city blocks) in the heart of Melbourne, Victoria, is the biggest casino in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the largest in the world. Built at a cost of $2 billion and opened to the public on May 8, 1997, the complex rakes in approximately $1.5 million in profit each day – that equates to $62,500 per hour, roughly $1,042 a minute, and $17.35 every second.
The complex itself is Australia’s leading tourist attraction, and sits within the top 20 for the most popular attractions around the world. It contributes approximately three billion dollars in total casino taxes. Crown owns over 1600 rooms and villas across three different hotels; the Crown Metropol being the largest in terms of number of rooms with 658.
Suffice to say, Crown is quite a profitable company and has done wonders for Australian tourism, entertainment and culture, with more than 19 million people a year visiting the complex which currently holds a license extending until the end of 2033.
The Gaming Floor
Crown Casino has over 500 table games and 2,500+ pokie machines (including slots and video poker). Slot machine betting limits start as low as one cent, with some VIP machines allowing bets of up to $5-$10 per spin. The major casino table games on offer include roulette, blackjack, craps, poker, pai gow, baccarat, casino war and sic bo, with other smaller gaming activities including the electronic version of roulette (Rapid Roulette), the big-wheel, tia to, and the electronic Vegas Star Roulette and Rapid Baccarat.
If you are a regular visitor of Crown Casino and want maximum bang for your buck, consider signing up for Crown Rewards, a loyalty points system which lets members trade points for experiences and other redeemable goodies. By signing up for a Crown Signature Club Card and using it while playing pokies or table games at the casino, or at Crown Melbourne bars, restaurants, spas and hotels, you can rack up points easily to use later for prizes – or even to pay for future visits to the casino or eateries.
If you are also a CrownBet.com.au member, CrownBet Rewards is of extra benefit to you. Just link your Crown Signature Club Card to your CrownBet punting account and all betting activity on the site grants you points. For racing stakes, every $2 gets you one Crown Reward/CrownBet Reward point, or $1 if it is on the fixed markets or exotics. For sports stakes, every $5 wagered gets you one point. If you’re a multi kind of guy, you get one point for every $1 you wager. All points are credited within minutes, and every 100 CrownBet Rewards points is worth $1.
Remember: CrownBet loyalty rewards points can expire after six months if your account is inactive or you haven’t played at Crown Melbourne for a while, so make sure to maintain your account if you want to have a big payout with your points someday!
Roulette at Melbourne’s Crown Casino
Both single-zero (European) roulette and double-zero (American) roulette are offered at the casino – lower stake tables use the American design (ranging from a $1 betting minimum to a $5), while higher stake table use the European design ($5 and up). Crown Casino added double zero to its low-bet roulette tables back in 2008. We recommend playing traditional European roulette in order to take advantage of the significantly lower house edge. There are close to 100 roulette wheels/tables within the casino, and each roulette station has table chips (different from traditional Crown chips discussed below) of different colours, with a unique number for that specific table – chips which can only be used at their respective tables.
Rapid Roulette allows players to play the game at their own electronic terminal in front of either a live croupier who spins the ball, or in front of an on-screen roulette wheel operated by a random number generator (RNG). Players who play Rapid Roulette have the chance to win a jackpot between $100 and $1000. Each terminal is automatically updated with the result of the spin, winnings are paid instantly and loses are taken. A timer appears on screen to let you know how long you have in between spin to place your bets.
Blackjack at Crown
Crown offers three distinct version of the game of 21: original Crown Blackjack, Blackjack Plus and pontoon. Blackjack Plus, one of the most skewed casino games in favour of the house, was introduced in 2012 and holds the rule that if the dealer draws to 22, he/she does not lose and no player is paid out – instead, the result is a ‘stand off’ and all bets placed are neither lost nor won. While this new variant of the classic blackjack game continues to be met with heavy criticism, it was approved by the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation. We suggest avoiding this game like the plague.
The Crown Chips
Crown casino chips are designed so each chip has a colour which represents an exact amount of money. The standard real money playing chips’ denominations are as follows:
- White chips – valued at $1
- Yellow chips – valued at $2.50
- Red chips – valued at $5
- Green chips – valued at $25
- Black chips – valued at $100
- Lavender chips – valued at $500
- Shiny ocean blue chips – valued at $1,000
Note: Crown also has other chips such as tournament chips and free play chips which hold no cash value.
The Three Hotels
The Crown complex owns three world-class and prestigious hotels – the Crown Towers, the Crown Metropol and the Crown Promenade – as well as two luxurious day spas (Isika Day Spa and Crown Spa).
- The Crown Towers: 481 rooms & villas over 38 floors.
- 658 rooms across 28 floors.
- 465 room hotel on 23 floors.
For more information about the hotels, visit the hotel section of Crown’s official website.
The Palladium
The Palladium is the largest entertainment ballroom within the complex, with a seating capacity of 1,500. It hosts some of Australia’s premier functions including the AFL’s Brownlow Medal Count and the annual TV Week Logie Awards.