As New South Wales counts down to a state election in March the public perception of gaming in pubs and clubs is front-and-centre, and operators walking close to the line have their fates in the balance.
Since Premier Perrottet pronounced that the regulations would be overhauled, following the government’s Crime Commission report, the public has been bombarded with sensationalist media talking organised crime laundering money and endemic problem gambling on poker machines, wrapped in the perception that operators are only interested in profit and have no regard for community.
For the industry to be portrayed as no longer about socialising and the time-honoured service of food and alcohol, would be disingenuous. Yet some operators are guilty of only seeing the short-term opportunities.
Case in point, a customer of a pub in the Parramatta LGA contacted PubTIC about a recent incident at the Vauxhall Hotel.
As a local, the man had been something of a regular at the pub for more than a decade, through several changes of ownership. Bondi Asset Management sold it to Redcape in 2018.
The incident reportedly involved a visit to the pub by the man and his wife on a Saturday night, to play some pool and have a few drinks after a long day.
There were around 10 patrons in the public bar, but no staff, so the woman went to the gaming room, as frequently happened, to order their usual drinks of a jug of beer and two bourbons on ice, in whiskey glasses.
To her surprise, the order was refused. Questioning this, she was told it was to prevent intoxication. The woman asked to see the manager, who was fetched from the office and told her abruptly that it was the hotel’s policy for no jugs or shots, no exceptions.
After consuming their schooners of beer the couple decided to leave, and the man asked again to see the manager, who was back in the office, about why the change of policy. The patron maintains they were in no way intoxicated, and had frequently in the past ordered their usual drinks even well after midnight.
The manager insisted there had been problems with alcohol violence and that the couple should leave.
Such feedback would not typically warrant mention, beyond an example of poor customer service and apparent inability or unwillingness to utilise RSA, but it seems particularly poignant in the current environment.
According to the Liquor & Gaming website, the Hotel has not seen violent incidents involving the police recorded since 2012, and in spite of its stance, appears to have not lodged an LIA (Local Impact Assessment). But it does have the full complement of 30 EGMs, and holds a 3-year average on the regulator’s list of NSW gaming pubs of #71.
Redcape is famously focused on gaming revenue, potentially at the expense of a balanced business. The fact the Vauxhall has slipped from #57 at the end of 2021 to #91 last December may have something to do with the particularly overt focus on that part of the business not related to serving people at the bar.
Recent years have seen the value of gaming machine licences escalate enormously, and for operators who have leveraged themselves into debt relying on assets retaining their values, it may be critical that reform to the gaming sector is done in a controlled way less likely to have unseen repercussions. The risk is widespread bankruptcies and the loss of thousands of jobs in the hospitality industry.
As the people of NSW prepare to vote between Perrottet’s Liberal government, determined to force an untested cashless system for all gaming machines whether it works or not, and Minns’ Labor opposition, promising to act in a measured manner through trials and discussion, it is incumbent on pub-lovers around Australia to remind everyone of the worth of the humble watering hole.
