Premiership winning Eagle banned from Crown Perth
An AFL premiership player is banned from entering a Crown Casino complex and needs special permission to attend events at the resort and casino complex.
7 News reports that West Coast Eagles player Liam Ryan is banned from Crown Perth, with the Eagles confirming to The West Australian that Ryan has been on the banned list at the venue for approximately two years, but would not confirm why he was forbidden from entering the casino, which is also a club sponsor.
“He is on the banned list at Crown, but it has nothing to do with gambling,” a club spokesman told The West Australian.
“It has been in place for about two years and he has complied with all conditions.”
Crown are a partner of the club and host a number of events.
“Prior to those events, the club seeks dispensation for Liam to attend, which has been granted on all occasions. Immediately upon the completion of the events, Liam leaves.”
Meanwhile, a Crown Perth spokeswoman told The West Australian that the venue has a no-tolerance approach to illegal activity.
“Crown Perth does not tolerate any illegal or inappropriate activity on site, and deals with all instances in full compliance with both our legal and regulatory requirements in Western Australia,” the spokesperson told the newspaper.
“Crown Perth cannot discuss any further particulars owing to privacy.”
The 23-year-old lost his licence after being convicted of drink-driving in 2018.
He was also involved in a family dispute later that year.
Ryan has since matured following those controversies, with The West Australian understanding the Eagles are now satisfied with his attitude.
Cats remove gambling advertising from home stadium
The Geelong Cats’ home stadium will be the first regular AFL venue in Victoria to have a gambling advertising blackout on its LED signage and scoreboard.
GMHBA Stadium will be a gambling-free stadium in 2019 and beyond according to a report published in The Age in March.
The Cats had previously committed to rid GMHBA Stadium of gambling advertising by the 2020 season, but achieved their goal a year early.
The club is not set to suffer financially from the move and will meet its commitment to be debt-free for the first time in 50 years by 2021, even with its exit from poker machines to be completed soon.
Geelong sells 20 per cent of its LED advertising space to TechFront, which on-sells the space to advertisers.
The club estimates that one third of that 20 per cent has been sold to betting companies in recent seasons.
In a re-negotiation of the contract the external company has agreed not to sell advertising space to gambling advertisers.
None of the 80 per cent of remaining space that Geelong sells itself goes to betting companies.
Mars Stadium in Ballarat also has no gambling advertising on its fixed-ad boards, but only hosts two Western Bulldogs home games each season.
Geelong chief executive Brian Cook said the decision was about making sure all the club’s activities aligned with its values and principles.
“It’s extremely important for our club to be gambling and gaming free,” Mr Cook told The Age.
“Simply from a visual perspective it is a good view. It’s an agreed variation of the contract. The only gambling activity we will have at our club including match day and non-match day will be at Wyndham (pokies).
