Liquor & Gaming NSW orders venues to move gaming machines

Liquor & Gaming NSW has ordered Gaslight Inn and Colombian Hotel to move or screen gaming machines from interconnected rooms.

Australia.- The Gaslight Inn and The Colombian Hotel have been directed by Liquor & Gaming NSW to comply with section 44A of the Gaming Machines Act 2001. This prohibits gaming rooms from being operated together as a single expanded gaming room.

The move comes after the regulator found that the hotels were effectively operating a combined gaming room, with patrons having access to 55 gaming machines instead of the legal limit of 30 for a single venue. The hotels were found to be circumventing the limits by using a door between the two gaming rooms to facilitate patron movement between the two areas.

Jane Lin, executive director of regulatory operations & enforcement at Liquor & Gaming NSW, highlighted the importance of compliance with the state’s gambling laws, stating that “the government and the community not only expect technical compliance with the state’s gambling laws but for the spirit and intent of those laws to be met.” 

Lin emphasised the zero-tolerance approach taken by Liquor & Gaming NSW to venues that fail to comply with gaming harm minimisation requirements. The Gaming Machines Regulation requires gaming machines be situated so that they cannot be seen from any place outside the venue that is used by the public or which has public access, including other licenced premises.

Failure to comply with the order carries a maximum penalty of AU$5,500. The venues have the right to apply to have the decision reviewed by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority.

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