Overdose at Crown Melbourne Every Two Weeks, Data Shows

Friday, 15 May 2026, at 5:13 am

Paramedics were called to more than 50 drug overdoses at Crown Melbourne in 2024 and 2025.

In short:

Data from Ambulance Victoria reveals paramedics were called to a suspected overdose every two weeks on average in 2024 and 2025.

It comes as experts criticise the government's lack of response to the situation.

Crown disputed some of the data, saying it believed figures could include a wide range of scenarios, including alcohol-related issues.

Paramedics have attended more than 50 suspected overdoses at Crown Melbourne in the past two years.

Data provided by Ambulance Victoria under Freedom of Information laws showed paramedics attended 59 call outs in 2024 and 2025 for overdose/poisonings at the precinct.

There were a further three call-outs for overdoses recorded on Yarra Promenade, which runs outside the gaming venue.

The Ambulance Victoria data does not show the health outcomes for those involved or a breakdown of the substances that were involved.

Crown Melbourne was once described as a blot on the community by a County Court judge.

In many of the cases, the substance was unknown, while in other cases illicit drugs or prescription medication were listed.

Ambulance Victoria said its data showed alcohol was not listed as a substance involved in any of the overdoses.

Macquarie University criminologist and former police officer, Vincent Hurley, said the figures were appalling.

The lack of response, and I am talking politically, to address this is just breathtaking.

If that drug overdose occurred in the main street of any town in Australia, it would be pretty safe to say that government would be straight onto it.

Crown disputed the data, saying it could take in instances where someone had a prescription drug interaction or an alcohol-related issue.

A Crown spokesperson disputed some of Ambulance Victoria's data, saying the casino believed the figures related to ambulance call outs for people assessed as substance affected rather than confirmed overdoses.

The casino said this could include a wide range of scenarios, such as prescription medication interactions or alcohol-related issues.

Crown also said the size of its venue needed to be considered.

Crown Melbourne operates on the scale of a small city, spanning two city blocks, welcoming tens of thousands of people on a busy night.

Government defends track record on Crown

During the same period, Ambulance Victoria data showed its paramedics were attending frequent call-outs for suspected overdoses at Crown Melbourne.

Separate data released exclusively to the ABC from Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency showed police had detected few drug trafficking offences detected at Crown.

The data showed Victoria Police recorded three drug dealing and trafficking offences at the casino for all of 2025 and six in 2024.

In 2025, there were 30 drug possession offences detected at Crown compared with 63 in 2024.

Dr Hurley said there was very little political will in Australia to police drug offences at casinos.

There is no way any state government is going to let a drug-dog operation happen in any casino.

It meant, he said, governments demonstrated a wilful blindness when it came to drug crimes at casinos.

There is no agency that I know of that has the teeth to be able to go in and genuinely fix this problem.

Criminologist Vincent Hurley says state governments are reluctant to allow police crackdowns inside casinos.

The ABC asked Victoria Police if it had ever run a drug-dog operation within Crown Melbourne.

It did not answer the question but did say drug-dog operations are regularly run across Victoria.

Operations involving drug detection dogs are a highly effective tool for police in targeting illicit drug use and trafficking.

Drug detection dogs are deployed on intelligence to ensure they are targeting the right areas at the right time.

The spokesperson also explained the scale of the force's work to reduce drug harm.

Over the last year, Victoria Police have laid more than 3,200 drug trafficking charges.

The police spokesperson said the force worked closely with Crown to prevent crime.

A Victorian government spokesperson said: Any overdose is concerning and we expect Crown to take its responsibilities for patron safety extremely seriously.

They said the government had overhauled casino oversight and put a tougher independent regulator in place to hold Crown to the highest standards.

Leading addiction doctor says health officials need more overdose information

Leading psychiatrist and addiction specialist Shalini Arunogiri said the number of overdoses was substantial, especially in such a small location.

A drug overdose is as potentially life-threatening situation.

Associate Professor Shalini Arunogiri says she's concerned by the number of drug overdoses at the casino.

Dr Arunogiri said it was unclear from the data released to the ABC what was driving the overdose figures.

She said more information was needed about the days of weeks and times the overdoses were occurring.

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She called on all stakeholders involved to meet and work on a co-ordinated response to the significant issue.

From a clinical perspective, what we worry about is the capacity to be able to respond to that high level of overdoses.

Crown said it had an on-site medical team and worked closely with Ambulance Victoria and Victoria Police.

Our protocols prioritise early escalation and care, regardless of whether an individual is a Crown guest or where an incident occurs within our broader CBD precinct.

Concerns previously raised about casino's drug links

For more than a decade, critics and former staff have spoken out about alleged drug activity at the casino.

The ABC reported in 2014 that drug trafficker Peter Tan Hoang had laundered a billion dollars at Crown Melbourne before he was murdered.

In 2016, County Court Judge Michael McInerney described the casino as a blot on the community.

Justice McInerney was scathing of the casino.

What type of security they institute I fail to understand, for this type of activity to be able to be taking place so freely at the casino.

During a review of Crown's gaming licence in 2017, a Perth man told his story of gambling harm at the casino.

He revealed he had self-excluded from Perth's casino before flying to Melbourne, gambling more than $120,000 in three weeks.

In 2021, the ABC's Four Corners program aired allegations from five former gambling inspectors at the casino.

The gambling watchdog was meant to keep Crown Casino crime-free.

Five former inspectors tell Four Corners how it failed spectacularly.

That same year, a NSW inquiry investigated Crown's suitability to run a casino in Sydney.

The Bergin inquiry, as it was known, made serious findings of wrongdoing against Crown Melbourne.

A royal commission was then called in Victoria to investigate Crown's gaming licence in the state.

The commission said its work was in response to the Bergin inquiry finding Crown Melbourne facilitated millions of dollars to be laundered through a bank account of its subsidiary.

Crown did keep its Melbourne gaming licence, with conditions.

Dr Hurley said regulation of casinos was not working.

There has been, I think in the past five or six years, at least five inquiries into casinos around Australia.

A Crown spokesperson said the casino had undergone one of the biggest transformations in Australian corporate history.

Under new ownership, Crown has invested $200 million in an extensive reform program.

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Friday, 15 May 2026, at 5:13 am

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