Melbourne Pub, Tabcorp Facing Fines for Letting Minors Gamble

Letting minors gamble could cost a pub in Melbourne almost AU$ 222,000 ($149,850) after the Victoria gambling regulator got tipped, investigated and charged the venue.

Six Occasions of Letting Gambling by Minors

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) announced Friday that the staff at the Preston Hotel allowed a 16-year-old access to electronic terminals on six occasions last year – in May and September – which the minor used to place bets, reported The Guardian.

Glorija Kuzman, director for Gambling at the VGCCC, outlined that “all gambling operators – including venues and the holder of the statewide Wagering and Betting license – have an irrefutable legal requirement to do everything they can to stop children from gambling.”

“One of the most serious harms is minors gambling,” she said, deeply concerned with the violations.

The VGCCC charged the pub located in north-east Melbourne with 15 charges among which six counts of allowing a minor to gamble, six counts of failing to supervise its electronic betting terminals and three counts of allowing a minor to enter a gambling machine area – all carrying a maximum financial penalty of AU$221,904 ($149,785).

The Melbourne pub is not the only one charged for the violations as the watchdog also slapped charges on the holder of the statewide wagering and betting license, Tabcorp. Australia’s largest gambling operator is facing a maximum fine of nearly AU$104,000 ($70,200) over eight charges – four counts of allowing a minor to gamble and four counts of failing to supervise a gambling machine.

“We are very focused on managing the unique challenges of cash betting and continue to invest in this area to protect minors by stopping our equipment from being used in this way,” commented a spokesman for Tabcorp, adamant that the company is taking the matter seriously.

Urging the Public to Share Info on Possible Transgressions

The regulator also said other venues are also being investigated for similar offenses, urging the public to contact the watchdog and share information if they have witnessed occasions in which minors could have possibly gambled.

The charges against the Melbourne pub and Tabcorp is the latest enforcement action undertaken by the Victorian gambling watchdog which is not shy to enforce the regulations and slap huge fines on incumbents which are found to have violated the requirements.

At the end of last year, the VGCCC issued a fine of AU$1.35 million ($904,000) to the country’s major poker machine operator, Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH), for non-compliance with the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 related to the compulsory pre-commitment program YourPlay.

Earlier in the year, the watchdog penalized Crown Resorts with AU$80 million ($57.4 million) for allowing players at Crown Melbourne to use China Union Pay cards to make deposits between 2012 and 2016.