A leaked report from the NSW Department of Justice suggests Sydney’s controversial Star Casino may have been misrepresenting the number of violent incidences it experiences. According to the document, nearly two thirds of assaults are not reported to police.

As ABC News reports, figures in a leaked NSW Department of Justice review into violence at Star Casino, which has garnered a reputation as the city’s most violent venue, claims the number of serious incidents are three times higher than official statistics.

What’s more, the figure may even be five times higher than what’s reported to senior casino managers. The data was collated by Liquor and Gaming NSW inspectors, who looked over the daily incident reports that had been sent to the department between March and August.

They found that many incidents involving assault had been recorded as merely “behaviour” or “forced removals” and it was only after inspectors requested corresponding security reports and surveillance camera footage that the true nature of the incidents was revealed.

111 violent incidents occurred in the six-month period studied, though police were only called to 36 of those incidents. According to ABC News, in one particular case, a Star Casino security guard head-butted a patron.

Though it will likely surprise few, casino experts say an accurate image of the casino’s violence problem would see the venue experiencing some 250 violent assaults per year. That’s more than 10 times the rate of the state’s most violent pub.

Naturally, since policy makers are not being provided with an accurate picture of assaults at the casino, such data is not taken into account when considering legislature such as the lockouts, from which Star Casino is famously exempt.

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