Australia: Liquor & Gaming NSW issues warning to non-compliant venues

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With recent inspections of New South Wales (NSW) pubs and bars revealing gaming-related violations, the regulatory authority, Liquor & Gaming NSW (L&G NSW), has issued a warning saying that NSW venues are failing to minimize gambling harm by complying with the regulations.

According to the Gaming Machines Act 2001, ATMs with credit access are not permitted in any area of gaming establishments. Despite that, an official from L&G NSW found ATM machines on the premises of these venues on several visits and was able to withdraw money from a credit account.

Notably, the inspectors visited Wentworth and Earlwood hotels and found them violating the rules. They have been directed to remove credit card access from their ATMs after a person complained that they were able to withdraw $2000 on credit from an ATM at Wentworth, the fourth-most profitable pub in NSW for poker (slot) machine takings.

Two more venues, Gaslight Inn and The Colombian Hotel, were found in violation by operating their gaming rooms together as one expanded gaming room. The chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Tim Costello said the news was shocking but not unexpected further condemning both operators’ “profits before people” policy.

MLC Cate Faehrmann, Greens spokesperson for gambling, said to City Hub Sydney, “This is just another example of how this industry cannot be trusted to self-regulate and will not act in the interest of their patrons unless they are forced to.”

Professor Sally Gainsbury, director of Australia’s only university-based gambling treatment centre The Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic, said that this non-compliance by NSW pubs harms problem gamblers the most as getting funds for gambling is easier for them.

L&G NSW is launching its new stage of targeted compliance program today. The previous phase included 875 inspections over seven months which resulted in 77 penalty notices and three prosecutions.

Professor Gainsbury supports the idea of seizing licenses held by places that violate the law. She said, “Gambling licensing conditions are clear. If venues do not obey these, they should have their license revoked. Having a license to provide gambling is also a social license to ensure that a venue is not creating harm within a community.”

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