Royal Hotel Granville ordered to remove cartoon signs from venue, menus over gambling related harm concerns

A western Sydney pub has been ordered to remove advertising signs from its venue and restaurant menu in a bizarre case centred on cartoon imagery.

A western Sydney pub has been ordered to remove external advertising signs from its venue and restaurant menu in a bizarre case centred on cartoon imagery which critics claimed was “too similar” to a cartoon used in a popular poker machine game.

Complaints from members of the public about signage at the Royal Hotel in Granville resulted in an investigation by the state’s liquor and gaming watchdog into whether the animated imagery could lead to “gambling related harm” in the community.

Documents by Liquor and Gaming NSW show the complaints centred on external and internal signs at the venue containing a cartoon image promoting the hotel’s restaurant, ‘Mr Choy’s Wok’.

The cartoon depicts a man of Chinese ancestry holding a plate of small dumplings which Liquor and Gaming said was “materially extremely similar” to a cartoon of a man of Chinese ancestry holding small bags of money used in the poker machine game ‘Choy’s Kingdom’, produced by Australia’s largest gaming machine manufacturer Aristocrat Gaming.

Liquor and Gaming NSW inspected the hotel – which has approval to operate 21 poker machines – and ordered the venue to remove the Mr Choy cartoons – including from its takeaway menus, external signage, social media pages and website.

A cartoon by the venue promoted its restaurant.

A photo of the cartoon used in the poker machine game Choy’s Kingdom.

The venue, however, challenged the decision – arguing the costs of removing and changing the signage would be “considerable”.

The hotel also lodged a formal review of the Liquor and Gaming decision – claiming the matter had “not been sufficiently investigated” and there was “no evidence” that the signs presented “an actual risk” to the community.

The venue argued its cartoon imagery was different to images in the ‘Choy’s Kingdom’ game because its signage showed a ‘Mr Choy’ holding dumplings, consistent with a Chinese restaurant, while the ‘Choy’ in ‘Choy’s Kingdom’ is depicted as holding bags of coins or money, which relates to gaming,

The hotel’s signs promoted its Chinese restaurant.

The venue’s appeal also narrowed down to the finer details of the images including that the characters had different coloured garments, moustaches and eyebrows.

“If the copyright/trademark owner of ‘Choy’s Kingdom’ was of the view that Mr Choy’s was materially extremely similar then they would have taken steps to protect those rights, however no such steps have been taken,” the hotel’s application added.

The review was assessed by Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority chair Caroline Lamb who has rejected the application – finding the images were too similar and could “increase the risk of gambling-related harm occurring” in the community.

The Granville Hotel has been ordered to remove the cartoon signage.

“There may be some subtle differences in the restaurant’s images (but) the images are materially extremely similar to that used in the ‘Choy’s Kingdom’ electronic gaming.” she said in the decision.

The Daily Telegraph contacted the hotel management for comment about the decision but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

The order to remove the signs came after new rules were rolled out by the NSW Government requiring all venues across the state to not display external gambling-related signage.

Gaming Minister David Harris said the changes were part of the government’s commitment to reform the industry.

The venue’s application insisted the hotel was a family-oriented venue that “goes over and above the minimum requirements for harm minimisation” relating to its poker machines.