The licensee of the Webster family’s divested Richards on the Park Hotel in Canley Vale has been handed the ‘maximum financial penalty’ for operating EGMs during the mandatory shutdown.
Liquor & Gaming NSW conducted an investigation of the Hotel, finding through central monitoring system data that on 68 occasions between May 2022 and September 2023 it had allowed the gaming room to remain open on Sundays until 5am, in contravention of the compulsory shutdown laws.
NSW law requires gaming operations be closed between 4am and 10am every day, except when the venue holds a variation, in the hope of helping the community by limiting gambling sessions.
Canley Vale is a Band 3, highly restricted precinct.
The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) determined to imposed penalty of $44k.
“Breaching these rules is a serious matter, and this penalty sends a clear message that compliance is not optional,” says L&G executive director Dimitri Argeres.
“Allowing gaming machines to operate during shutdown hours increases the risk of gambling harm, particularly in areas identified as high-risk.”
This marks the second large penalty imposed on a hotel for the breach, after the Concourse Hotel was fined $110k in November for repeatedly operating gaming machines during shutdown hours over eight months in 2023.
Prominent AHA NSW executive Phillip Webster passed away at the end of 2022, and last October Vicki Webster and family sold the Hotel to Lewis Hotels for a reported $64 million.
Kelly Rice, the former licensee during the 16-month period when the breaches occurred, is no longer involved in the operation.
He argued to ILGA that the incidents were the result of an “honest misunderstanding” as the pub had previously been authorised to open at that time, and that the central monitoring system had not flagged any instances of noncompliance.
As an act of contrition, net turnover taken at the times of the breaches was donated to Lifeline.
But the Authority was not swayed, noting Rice’s legal obligation to ensure the EGMs were not in operation, as per the hotel’s liquor licence, which plainly stated the shutdown hours.
After considering all the facts, ILGA ruled the complaint serious enough to warrant “the maximum monetary penalty”.
The case comes as the NSW Government moves to review and scrap the bulk of the exemptions allowing pubs and clubs to vary their shutdown hours of gaming rooms.
The new protocol will commence 31 March this year, intended to give venues time to adapt operations.
“All gaming machines in NSW must be connected to a centralised monitoring system, and we will use the data from that system to commence investigations and as evidence to support strong enforcement action,” added Argeres.
ILGA’s full disciplinary decision is available here.
