AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jamie Nettleton, Samuel Gauci and James Dommett, Addisons
Initiatives introduced in NSW include: • the removal of external signage from hotels and clubs relating to the advertising of gaming machines or gaming rooms; • the reduction of the cash input limit in gaming machines from AUD5,000 to AUD500, with effect from 1 July 2023; • establishing the Independent Panel on Gaming Reform (see 1.1 Current Outlook and Recent Changes ); • the implementation of responsible gambling measures in clubs and hotels that provide gaming machines, such as: (a) the requirement to have a Responsible Gam- bling Officer (RGO) on duty in the gaming area where gaming machines are available ‒ this requirement applies to clubs and hotels that have 21 or more gaming machines available in their venue (although the number of RGOs that are required to be on duty depends on the number of gaming machines that are in operation) and the role of the RGO includes the following duties: (i) promote harm minimisation measures in the venue; (ii) identify and enquire with customers that display gambling harm behaviour; (iii) notify senior management of serious gam- bling incidents; (iv) assist customers that request to be self- excluded; (v) assist other staff in relation to harm mini- misation measures; and (vi) record gambling incidents in the incident register; (b) the requirement to have a gambling incident register, which keeps a record of incidents relating to gambling and gambling harm, in- cluding self-exclusion requests, a breach by a customer of a self-exclusion arrangement, and incidents involving minors; (c) the provision of advanced responsible conduct of gambling training for RGOs, managers who supervise RGOs, hotel licensees, approved managers and club secretaries ‒ directors of clubs and hotel companies also need to under- go responsible conduct of gambling training;
(d) the requirement to have a gaming plan of man- agement (GPM) for each venue, which guides staff on the venue’s responsible conduct of gambling obligations – this requirement came into effect on 1 September 2024 but the GPM is to be updated when necessary (in response to changes in the venue) and must be reviewed annually; and (e) signage to automated teller machines (ATMs) must not be visible from a gaming machine or any part of the gaming area, and advertising of gaming machines must not be visible from an ATM. In early 2025, the NSW government conducted con- sultation in relation to the introduction of facial recog- nition technology to assist with the implementation and enforcement of player exclusions (see 1.1 Current Outlook and Recent Changes ). The NCPF was the catalyst for the introduction of various responsible gambling measures affecting the online wagering sector during the past six years. There were ten NCPF measures, all of which have been implemented. The NCPF measures include: • a restriction on inducements; • an obligation to verify customers; • a requirement to provide responsible service of online gambling training to staff; • a requirement to provide activity statements to customers; • the implementation of consistent gambling mes- saging; • voluntary opt-out and pre-commitment tools; and • BetStop – the Self-Exclusion Register. Several jurisdictions publish responsible gambling codes of practice or require relevant licensed opera- tors to institute a responsible gambling code. Victoria, for example, requires organisations holding a gam- bling industry licence to have in place a Responsible Gambling Code of Conduct under the Gambling Reg- ulation Act 2003. Victorian bookmaker MintBet was fined AUD100,000 in April 2024 for repeated breaches of its Responsible Gambling Code of Conduct, after allowing a customer to gamble for 35 hours in a win- dow of 50 hours. This was related to a further find-
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