{"id":777021265,"date":"2024-12-05T08:28:55","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T11:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777021265"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:34:09","slug":"christopher-oneill-appointed-as-chair-of-victorian-gambling-regulator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/christopher-oneill-appointed-as-chair-of-victorian-gambling-regulator","title":{"rendered":"Christopher O\u2019Neill appointed as chair of Victorian gambling regulator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

O\u2019Neill will replace Fran Thorn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- The Victorian government has announced that Christopher O\u2019Neill <\/strong>APM has been appointed as chairperson of the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC<\/strong>). He will replace Fran Thorn<\/a>, who served as the regulator’s first chair from January 1, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the government, O\u2019Neill brings “a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role”. He has been a commissioner of the VGCCC since 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Neill served with Victoria Police for 45 years. He was acting deputy commissioner in 2016, including in the Regional Operations, Capability and Specialist Operations portfolios. He received the Australian Police Medal, National Police Service Medal, National Emergency Medal, National Medal and Victoria Police Service Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melissa Horne<\/strong>, the minister for casino, gaming and liquor regulation, said: \u201cI congratulate Mr O\u2019Neill on his appointment as Chairperson of the VGCCC \u2013 his background with the Commission and Victoria Police will bring vital expertise to the position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The gambling regulator has been significantly strengthened since it was re-established in 2022 and Mr O\u2019Neill\u2019s appointment will ensure continuity and the embedding of these important changes. I thank Fran Thorn for her outstanding service to the Commission, and her dedication to reducing gambling harm and improving the integrity of the Victorian gambling sector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, the VGCCC reported that Annette Kimmitt<\/strong> will step down as chief executive officer in March 2025. Kimmitt still had two years left to serve on her term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria Gambling Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 presented to parliament<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Horne has recently introduced the Gambling Legislation Amendment Bill 2024<\/strong> to the state parliament in Victoria. The proposed legislation includes new mandatory pre-commitment limits for gambling machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill would limit the maximum amount a gambler can put into an electronic gaming machine to AU$100 (US$68.31) a time, down from the current limit of AU$1,000. Meanwhile, carded-play would be compulsory for machines and would require players to set pre-determined spending limits. The default spending limit would be set at AU$50, although gamblers would be able to adjust this under a scheme, agreed upon by the Labor government and the Greens earlier this year.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The introduction of the carded-play system would begin with a pilot in mid-2025<\/strong> at select venues followed by a phased implementation. Crown Melbourne<\/a>, the state\u2019s largest casino operator, has already implemented mandatory carded play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

O\u2019Neill will replace Fran Thorn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777019885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Victorian government has appointed Christopher O\u2019Neill APM as the new Chairperson of the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC), succeeding Fran Thorn. This leadership transition coincides with the introduction of the Gambling Legislation Amendment Bill 2024, proposing mandatory pre-commitment limits and compulsory carded-play for electronic gaming machines (EGMs) across Victoria.","focusai_entities":"Christopher O\u2019Neill APM, Fran Thorn, Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC), Victoria Police, Melissa Horne, Annette Kimmitt, Labor government, Greens, Crown Melbourne","focusai_location":"Australia, Victoria","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.95), product_ux (0.9), tech_data (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Operator GGR?","query":"What are the projected financial impacts of the new EGM pre-commitment and carded-play mandates on Victorian casino and venue operators' Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) and Net Gaming Revenue (NGR)?"},{"label":"VGCCC Enforcement Posture?","query":"How will the VGCCC's new leadership and enhanced regulatory powers influence the enforcement posture regarding responsible gambling and operational integrity across the Victorian market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,154,158],"tags":[23911,24153],"class_list":["post-777021265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-victorian-gambling-and-casino-control-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777021265"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777021306,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777021265\/revisions\/777021306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777019885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777021265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777021265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777021265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}