Nearly half of offences occurred at the "gaming venue" according to police reporting of the incidents, suggesting violent crime was a regular problem in a part of the casino where security is tightest. A further 7600 non-violent crimes have been committed since 2005, including theft, arson, drug trafficking and public disturbances, often resulting from intoxication. Financial scams – fraud, forgery, counterfeiting, and obtaining benefit by deception – were also perpetrated against Crown or its patrons on a weekly basis. But Crown disputes the accuracy of the CSA figures, claiming they incorrectly give the impression all the offences occurred within Crown premises. It suggested police could have mistakenly identified the location of an incident because it was near Crown. The CSA, which compiles official crime statistics for the state government, stands by the accuracy of the data.

Crown also noted that any crime figures need to be considered in the context that the complex attracts an average of 52,000 visitors a day, making it one of Australia's most popular tourist attractions. "Given the number of visitors to the resort, Crown has a very strong track record in dealing with safety issues and we work very closely with the Victorian police and regulators on these matters," the spokeswoman said. But The Sunday Age understands the level of crime occurring at Crown has been deliberately under-reported by management in bid to avoid negative publicity and scrutiny by regulators. Underworld figures, wealthy gamblers, and the "fixers" who provide them with a range of services have told Fairfax Media that loan-sharking, prostitution and drug dealing are conducted with impunity on the premises. A number of high-profile drug dealers live long-term in Crown's hotels, using them as a base to service local and international celebrities, nightclub patrons and wealthy gamblers.

"If you're spending tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands [of dollars] a night on the tables, you'll get what you want: drugs, girls, whatever," a veteran high-roller said. "There's a whole side industry devoted to just keeping these people happy." This includes the services of a notorious Bayside-based loan shark and standover man who buys luxury watches and cars at steep discounts or offers cash loans against properties at exorbitant interest rates to high-rollers desperate to keep playing. Fixers say he moves freely in and out of the casino's most exclusive areas, resorting to threats and violence to collect debts only outside the venue. A Melbourne brothel owner is also a regular fixture in Crown's Mahogany Room, where he offers short-term loans to players, who use credit cards or jewellery as collateral. A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the force was "aware" of reports of drug trafficking and dealing at Crown Casino. "When crimes are reported to us or brought to our attention we work closely with the Casino management to ensure the appropriate action or investigation is undertaken," she said.

Underworld and police sources also say Crown Casino continues to be a favoured place for high-level criminal figures to meet, do business, and play in a relatively protected environment. "Crims love going there. There are cameras everywhere so nobody usually pulls anything. It's considered like safe ground," a source said. Serious questions have also been raised about Crown's unofficial policies about the reporting of suspected crimes and reluctance to refer matters to police. Victoria Police's dedicated Casino Squad, which once maintained a continual presence inside the complex, was disbanded in 2003. Last year, Homicide Squad Detective Sergeant Paul Rowe testified before a coroner's court inquiry that Crown did not mandatorily report all serious incidents to law enforcement authorities.

"Certainly police members attend the Crown complex and patrol the food court and that sort of area on a Friday and Saturday night, but in terms of actually going onto the gaming floor we'd only go in response to a request by Crown," he testified. The revelations came during the inquest into the death of Anthony William Dunning, a patron who died following a confrontation with Crown security guards in 2011. The court heard that Crown failed to report the violent altercation to police until the following day despite being queried by police about a triple zero call from a witness shortly after the incident. Despite the detective's sworn testimony, Crown maintains that the unwritten understanding "does not exist" and all serious crime is reported to police "as a matter of course". But a Crown spokeswoman said some crimes may not be reported if staff deem them "not serious" and a request is made by the victim not to report it to police.

"Not serious crimes would include – minor graffiti, minor vandalism or minor public nuisance such as spitting," she said. "That would include patron to patron disputes where neither patron wishes make a complaint/press charges." Victoria Police denies there is any official policy restricting uniformed officers from entering Crown's gaming floor. Day-to-day oversight of Crown's operations rests largely with the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, which gave the group a positive review in its latest government-mandated assessment of the casino's operations. "The VCGLR is of the view that since 2008 Crown Melbourne Limited has managed the issues arising from criminal activity at the Melbourne Casino well," the regulator found in the 2012 report. But the VCGLR decided not to publish any figures about the sex crimes, robberies, abductions or drug offences that occurred at Crown in its publicly available report.

In contrast, the CSA data obtained by The Sunday Age shows the number of sex crimes, assaults and deception offences recorded at the casino actually reached a high over the five-year period covered by the VCGLR review. The CSA and VCGLR use the same crime data, which is recorded by Victoria Police. The VCGLR declined to comment on its decision to exclude the violent crime data from its report. Crown Casino has been a lucrative source of revenue for successive state governments, with gambling taxes almost doubling from $112.4 million in 2005 to $210.6 million in 2015. cvedelago@theage.com.au