Too big to fail: the predictable romance between pollies and Crown Weâre sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss Save Normal text size Advertisement Thirty years ago Melbourne was withering. Development had stalled, financial institutions collapsed and then, as now, many long-term residents were heading for the hills. Then, as now, the government looked for an economic defibrillator to shock the CBD out of its flat-lining. Like the desperate punter looking for a winner in the last race, premier Joan Kirner turned to a sure thing - a juicy slice of the gambling pie. The big gamble: Premier Joan Kirner in August 1992 with one of the stateâs first legal gaming machines at Windy Hill.