Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group Fined for Allowing Minors to Gamble
The Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH) has been fined $177,500 for multiple charges related to underage gambling activities and insufficient supervision of betting areas.
VGCCC hits ALH with $175,000 fine for allowing underage gambling.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:These penalties come after an investigation by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC), which found ALH guilty of 24 charges, including allowing a minor to gamble on several occasions and letting a child enter a restricted poker machine area.
Related: VGCCC Fines ALH for Responsible Gaming Violations
The charges relate to incidents that took place between September and October 2022, when a teenager was able to gamble at five different ALH venues, leading to a fine of $175,000. The venues involved were the Albion Charles Hotel, Cramers Hotel, Doncaster Hotel, Excelsior Hotel, and the Rose Shamrock & Thistle Hotel.
Eight Year Old Entered Gambling Area
Additionally, in August 2023, an eight-year-old child entered the poker machine area at the Westside Taverner, accompanied by an adult, despite the strict prohibition of minors in gambling zones in Victoria. Although venue staff quickly intervened, asking the child and adult to leave and reporting the incident to the VGCCC, ALH was still fined $2,500 for the breach.
An Endeavour Group spokesperson acknowledged the group’s failure to uphold proper supervision.
ALH takes its responsibility obligations very seriously and regrets that it failed to ensure reasonable supervision of the Tabcorp electronic betting terminals and electronic gaming machines at the small number of its venues where these offences took place. Endeavour Group and ALH continue to work constructively and collaboratively with the VGCCC on addressing the risk of harm from gaming services.
More Regulation News
ALH Ordered to Pay Legal Costs
On top of the $175,000 in fines for allowing the teenager to gamble, ALH was also required to pay $45,000 in legal costs to the VGCCC. VGCCC’s CEO Annette Kimmitt AM said that she approved of the court’s decision.
She said that it is “well established” that those who gamble under age are “more likely to experience severe harm from gambling as adults”. Therefore, she says that all venues have both a legal and social responsibility to stop minors from gambling and that the regulator has “zero tolerance for operators that flout the law”.
She did praise the staff at Westside Taverner for taking action when they noticed a child in the poker machine area but reiterated that no child should ever be allowed to access gambling spaces in the first place.
RELATED TOPICS: Regulation
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