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A court in Victoria state has slapped leading hotel interest Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH) with a A$177,500 ($120,000) fine and A$45,000 in costs in a follow-up to wagering giant Tabcorp Holdings’ prosecution over underage access to gambling facilities.
The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria issued the latest fine to ALH after the company pleaded guilty to allowing a minor to gamble at five of its hotels in Melbourne between September 2022 and October 2023.
The company also pleaded guilty to failing to reasonably supervise gambling facilities, according to a statement on Monday (October 14) by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC), which brought the case. The 24 charges against ALH included a separate incident in which an 8-year-old child was able to accompany an adult into a slot machine area of a sixth facility.
Tavern staff removed the child and reported the intrusion to the gambling regulator, but the incident still attracted a penalty, a VGCCC statement said.
The court fined ALH A$175,000 over the minor who accessed multiple gambling facilities, A$2,500 over the 8-year-old child and ordered the company to pay A$45,000 to the VGCCC for legal expenses.
The prosecution of ALH, Tabcorp and other gambling licensees continues the hardline approach to gambling operator misconduct taken by the VGCCC under CEO Annette Kimmitt’s leadership, since its formation in early 2022.
“It is well established that minors who gamble are more likely to experience severe harm from gambling as adults,” Kimmitt said. “All venues therefore have a legal and social obligation to protect children from that risk.
“We have zero tolerance for operators that flout the law, especially when children are involved.”
Kimmitt acknowledged that the staff of the Westside Taverner in Melbourne’s western suburbs intervened when they discovered the 8-year-old in the slots section of the facility, but added: “It is never acceptable for a child to gain access to a venue’s gambling area”.
A recent case involving a teenager who accessed 13 gambling facilities over more than a year resulted in a A$370,417 fine for Tabcorp, as well as individual fines for five hotel licensees ranging from A$5,220 to A$25,300, and for a Tabcorp retail outlet for just under A$10,000.
Two prosecutions in the overall case remain before the Magistrates’ Court, the VGCCC said.
The VGCCC previously fined ALH a total of A$480,000 in December 2023 for operating electronic gaming machines (EGMs) outside approved trading hours, as well as breaching mandatory shutdown rules.
Meanwhile in August 2023, the Magistrates’ Court fined ALH A$550,000 for operating 220 EGMs without installing the state’s mandatory YourPlay system for player pre-commitment, totalling more than A$1.2m in fines for the company in 14 months.
