Melbourne's Crown Casino is set to be fined for removing betting buttons from nearly 20 of its poker machines without approval, the ABC can reveal.
Last year whistleblowers from the casino accused Crown of instructing staff to remove betting options from poker machines, in a scheme known as "blanking buttons".
Pokies have multiple betting options for each spin, including how big or small a stake a player wants to make.
Under the plan certain options were removed which whistleblowers suspected was to increase punter losses by forcing them into making higher bets.
Senior sources have told the ABC that the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation is set to announce the penalty for Crown as early as Friday.
It is understood the penalty could be as high as $300,000 and will also include a letter of censure, and require Crown to operate in an updated compliance framework.
The penalty is likely to be criticised by gambling reformers as too weak — for the first half of this financial year, Crown Melbourne enjoyed more than $1.1 billion in revenue.
After initially denying the button-blanking allegations, Crown this year told the stock exchange that it had removed betting options on 17 of its 2,628 machines over three weeks in March and April last year for a trial.
"The [gambling] commission's view is that the trial involved varying a gaming machine type and certain games in a manner that required the commission's prior approval," Crown told the ASX in March.
"Crown Melbourne's position is that the trial did not require prior approval, and therefore there has been no contravention of the GRA [Gambling Regulation Act]."
The commission declined to comment.
Crown Casino did not respond to inquiries.
