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Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia could face fines up to $1 million dollars after they changed a blackjack rule. The change hurt blackjack players and could potentially increase the casinos take from blackjack players by 40 percent. They are now being investigated by Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation for the change that they hoped went under the radar. In the past, an experienced blackjack player would lose 50 cents in every $100. With the new rule in place, the player could lose 70 cents. The reason the casino was able to get away with the rule change is because Crown Casino is the only casino in Melbourne so gamblers had no choice if they wanted to play blackjack.
The rule that the Crown Casino changed was the number of cards a blackjack dealer could deal to themselves. This made the dealers hit on a ‘soft 17’ which increases the house edge. This small change is estimated to make an additional $6 million dollars for the casino in a year. Many high rollers and frequent blackjack players at the Melbourne casino are not happy with the change and are blaming the casino for being greedy. When a casino changes the rules they must get prior approval from the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation. They also must update their online rules before the rule goes into effect. It does not look like the Crown Casino followed these steps and will now face the possibility of fines. Source: the age.
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