Pensioner’s $500,000 pokies spree and the Wild West of club governance

But high rollers who want to spend big on the pokies without being subjected to the casinos’ stringent source-of-funds checks have another option: Club Marconi’s Diamond Suite.

Patrons are required to turn over at least $500,000 per year on the poker machines to qualify for entry to the Bossley Park club’s luxurious members-only lounge, which is accessed by swipe pass through an unmarked door and where no questions are asked.

Take Patricia Zalavros, a 62-year-old pensioner who lives in a Bossley Park home owned by the Department of Housing. Zalavros’ modest circumstances belie an extraordinary run of luck on the pokies, which have apparently delivered her a bonanza big enough to reinvest in whale-sized quantities. She has been a member of the Diamond Suite since it opened a decade ago and plays the pokies there until 4am six or seven nights a week.

The apparent disparity between Zalavros’ income and spending is well known to Club Marconi. Her domestic partner, Angelo Ruisi, is a director of the club and sits on its gaming committee. He is often known to swing past the suite in the evening so she can drive him home before returning to the club to gamble.

This has not happened recently because Ruisi’s membership of the club was suspended after he was alleged to have hurled racial abuse at guests praying outside a wedding reception on the second level of the clubhouse in mid-July.

The club has allowed him to continue to attend board meetings, however, so he can contribute to decisions on behalf of members.

A major reckoning with money laundering in the state’s two casinos over the past decade has resulted in board restructures, prosecutions and heavy oversight by a new regulator, the NSW Independent Casino Commission . The casinos are also obliged to be mindful of ASX corporate governance principles that stress the importance of an effective board.