An investigation into events spanning across four dates in 2024, and involving three minors across three venues, has resulted in a AU$38,000 (£18.2k) fine issued by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) handed over to the Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH), which manages the venues.
Infringements related to the Cramers Hotel, Excelsior Hotel, and Mountain View Hotel, all located in the state of Victoria, and all publicly named and reprimanded by the VGCCC and its CEO, Suzy Neilan.
The ALH was penalised without conviction in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, pleading guilty to six charges after self-reporting the breaches to the VGCCC, which Neilan welcomed.
“Being accountable for wrongdoing demonstrates integrity, which has been a focus of the VGCCC’s ongoing work with gambling operators,’ she said.
“But it’s not enough to own up after the fact. Venues must be proactive about ensuring that minors do not access poker machine areas by ensuring they have in place appropriate systems, processes and staff.”
Too late for comfort
Each case showed significant supervision failures by floor staff, with the most serious one involving a child accompanied by two adults entering the poker machine area of the Excelsior Hotel in April 2024 and engaging with the machine being used by one of the adults.
In the Cramers Hotel, a 17-year-old visited the poker machine area in January without being asked to show their ID throughout multiple interactions with staff members, the VGCCC said. This occurred multiple times until employees intervened on 25 January.
The third case involved a 14-year-old entering the poker machine room of the Mountain View Hotel and successfully managing to gamble before staff realised what’s happening.
All three venues have been given two charges each by the VGCCC, one for allowing a minor to enter a gaming machine area and one for allowing a minor to gamble.
“I encourage all hotels and clubs to review their operations, including staff training, and consider making any adjustments required to ensure compliance with the law,” Neilan added.
Troublemaker Victoria
Neilan took on the role of VGCCC’s CEO in March of this year. Since then, she’s been focusing her efforts to fix what has been a troubled history for the state of Victoria in terms of customer care due diligence.
In 2024, the VGCCC gave a record AU$4.7m (£2.2m) fine to Tabcorp, the operator of Victoria’s wagering licence for retail and leisure venues, over lack of adequate staff training that led to failures to protect at-risk customers.
Tabcorp also faced a total of 54 charges by the VGCCC in 2023 for allegedly allowing minors to gamble and lacking reasonable supervision of on-site electronic betting terminals.
Naturally, the state has become a hotbed for problem gambling policies, going as far as adopting the strictest gambling harm rules in Australia back in 2023, specifically aimed at making gaming machines safer through measures like reducing the player spend cap and mandatory game spin rates.
The developments in Victoria come amid a national conversation about gambling harm in Australia, something policymakers have sought to address via the recommendations of the Murphy Report, published by a late MP in 2023.
Gambling reforms were shelved earlier this year ahead of the general election, but with the PM Anthony Albanese now firmly in the driving seat after his election win it could be back on the agenda.
