ALH faces 62 charges over machines missing precommitment technology
Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group could be fined up to $1.35m for operating pokies without mandatory technology enabled.
Endeavour Group, the former liquor and hotels arm of Woolworths and the nation’s largest operator of poker machines, faces 62 charges for allegedly operating gaming machines that didn’t have mandatory precommitment technology installed.
The technology, called YourPlay, gives consumers the ability to set time and spending limits to help them stay in control of their gambling.
The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission on Friday said Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH) was alleged to have operated 220 gaming machines for up to five weeks without YourPlay functionality enabled.
ALH is the hotels division of Endeavour Group.
In Victoria, all electronic gaming machines must have an interactive YourPlay display that allows players to set limits on the time or money they spend and to monitor their gaming machine play across venues. While using YourPlay is optional for players, it is mandatory for venues to have it installed and available.
The VGCCC said that after an anonymous tip-off in December, its inspectors visited a number of venues in the Melbourne suburbs of Hallam, Sandringham, Narre Warren, Mulgrave, Laverton and Cheltenham to verify whether the breaches were occurring.
After VGCCC inspections, the company turned off all 220 non-compliant machines across 62 of its 77 venues, it said.
ALH and an ALH executive officer of the company will face charges for failing to ensure mandatory player equipment was installed under the Gambling Regulation Act 2003.
“We have decided to prosecute ALH as the alleged breaches constituted serious and significant noncompliance across 80 per cent of all ALH’s Victorian venues,” VGCCC chief executive Annette Kimmitt said.
The 62 charges could attract a maximum fine of around $1.35m.
Endeavour chief executive Steve Donohue said the company was made aware in December that a number of newly installed Victorian gaming machines did not have the Victorian Government’s YourPlay standard voluntary precommitment functionality activated.
“We have since conducted a review of the installation process across our fleet. The investigation concluded this was an isolated but regrettable case of process and communication failure in our internal supply chain,” he said.
“The board was immediately made aware of the VGCCC investigation by management and has been regularly updated on the investigation and VGCCC process.”
He said the company was acutely aware of the seriousness of this matter and was committed to doing all it could to ensure it did not happen again.
“At Endeavour we hold ourselves to the highest standard of responsibility, we regret that this has occurred and we will continue to work with the VGCCC,” Mr Donohue said.
“As soon as the matter was raised we deactivated the machines, and proceeded to address the concerns before retesting the functionality.”
The alleged contraventions related to 220 machines out of a total 4690 machines in Victoria, for up to five weeks.
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