TEN HIGH ROLLERS BET $386M IN JUST SIX MONTHS

The old Sydney Harbour Casino's top 10 high rollers bet $386 million in six
months and a total of $66 million in just one month, according to casino
monitors.

The "Endeavour Room Top 1,000 Members" list, part of which has been obtained
by the Opposition, showed that the biggest punter in the casino's high
rollers' room in the latter half of 1996 was a Hong Kong resident, who bet a
total of $96 million.

Second was heroin supplier Van Duong, who bet $94 million. He topped the
list for the month of June 1996, when he put $21 million through the high
rollers' room. Van Duong was one of 30 high-profile gamblers excluded from
the casino in September 1997 on orders of the Police Commissioner, Mr Peter
Ryan.

He gambled at interstate casinos until 1998 and was subsequently jailed for
eight years for supplying $75,000 worth of heroin in Cabramatta.

When questioned about Van Duong's exclusion for the ABC's Four
Cornersprogram last month, the Casino Control Authority chairwoman, Ms Kaye
Loder, said she was "sorry to see the money go out of NSW". Her remarks
prompted her removal by the Premier, Mr Carr.

On the six-monthly figures, which the Opposition said were compiled by the
Division of Casino Surveillance within the Department of Racing and Gaming,
six of the top 10 gamblers lived in NSW. Their addresses were given as
Bonnyrigg (Van Duong), Earlwood, Leichhardt, Camperdown, St Ives and Point
Piper.

The other top 10 gamblers lived in Hong Kong, Indonesia or Singapore.

The Government yesterday said 46 high rollers had been excluded since the
casino began five years ago with a different operator to the current one,
Tabcorp.

Forty-four exclusions had been ordered by Mr Ryan who, according to Mr Carr,
was the nation's only police chief to have exercised the exclusion power.

The director of casino surveillance, currently Mr Ron Harrax, had issued two
exclusion orders, one jointly with Mr Ryan, and the casino had excluded one
high roller. About 2,000 other gamblers had been excluded, either by the
casino, the authorities or themselves, said a spokesman for the Racing and
Gaming Minister, Mr Face.

The spokesman said the Government would today answer Opposition questions on
how many reports had been compiled by casino inspectors on possible money
laundering and other criminal activity, and how many had been acted on.

The Opposition's gaming spokesman, Mr Rob Oakeshott, said last night it was
suspected that many reports of criminal activities using the casino were
ignored by authorities.