App crashing while creating Dao object for room database

Question

My app is crashing and the only thing I know for sure is that the main problem is this line ->

val placesDao = (application as HotspotBucketApp).placesDb.placesDao()

can any one tell please me why is this happening.

private fun getPlaceList() {
    val placesDao = (application as HotspotBucketApp).placesDb.placesDao()
    lifecycleScope.launch {
        placesDao.fetchAllPlaces().collect {
            placeList = ArrayList(it)
        }
        if (placeList.isNotEmpty()) {
            lastId = placeList[placeList.size - 1].id
        }
    }
}

class HotspotBucketApp: Application() {

    val placesDb by lazy {
        PlacesDatabase.getInstance(this)
    }
}

@Dao
interface PlacesDao {

    @Query("select * from `placesTable`")
    fun fetchAllPlaces(): Flow<List<PlaceEntity>>

    @Insert
    suspend fun insert(placeEntity: PlaceEntity)

    @Delete
    suspend fun delete(placeEntity: PlaceEntity)
}

@Database(entities = [PlaceEntity::class], version = 1)
abstract class PlacesDatabase: RoomDatabase() {

    abstract fun placesDao(): PlacesDao

    companion object {
        @Volatile
        private var INSTANCE: PlacesDatabase? = null
        private const val PLACES_DB_NAME = "place_database"

        fun getInstance(context: Context): PlacesDatabase {
            synchronized(this) {
                var instance = INSTANCE
                if (instance == null) {
                    instance = Room.databaseBuilder(context.applicationContext, PlacesDatabase::class.java, PLACES_DB_NAME)
                        .fallbackToDestructiveMigration()
                        .build()
                    INSTANCE = instance
                }

                return instance
            }
        }
    }
}

@Entity(tableName = "placesTable")
data class PlaceEntity(
    @PrimaryKey
    val id: Int,
    val title: String,
    val image: String,
    val description: String,
    val date: String,
    val location: String,
    val latitude: Double,
    val longitude: Double
)

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

    binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
    setContentView(binding?.root)

    setSupportActionBar(binding?.addPlacesToolBar)
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 33) {
        onBackInvokedDispatcher.registerOnBackInvokedCallback(
            OnBackInvokedDispatcher.PRIORITY_DEFAULT
        ) {
            finish()
        }
    } else {
        onBackPressedDispatcher.addCallback(this, object : OnBackPressedCallback(true) {
            override fun handleOnBackPressed() {
                finish()
            }
        })
    }

    getPlaceList()

    binding?.fABAddPlaces?.setOnClickListener {
        val intent = Intent(this, AddPlaceActivity::class.java)
        intent.putExtra("lats_place_id", lastId)
        startActivity(intent)
    }

}