The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) has put gaming machine applications on hold, pending the outcome of a successful challenge by a hotelier in the Supreme Court that throws doubt on conditions placed on gaming rooms.
Jim Knox’s pubs the Area Hotel in Griffith, purchased in 2019, and Whitebull Hotel in Armidale, bought mid-2021, applied to increase their EGM holdings.
ILGA approved the request – on condition that the Whitebull maintained an incident register on any potential problem gambling behaviour, and employed a dedicated Responsible Gambling Officer to monitor the room between midnight and 4am. The Area Hotel was required to have a Responsible Gambling Officer at all times the machines were open for use.
Knox Hotels challenged the conditions in the NSW Supreme Court, where it was noted ILGA was utilising section 53 of the Liquor Act to impose such conditions, which had become common practise on gaming machine applications and transfers.
Early June the Supreme Court’s Justice Sarah McNaughton handed down judgment in the matter, ruling ILGA had overstepped its power in using the Liquor Act.
The Gaming Machines Act contains its own mechanisms for mitigation, limited to instances when there is a requirement for potential community harms (LIAs). McNaughton determined that mis-use of the Liquor Act effective undermined the Gaming Machines Act and that ILGA’s reasoning was misplaced.
“Considerations of possible or likely impacts on the local community [from additional EGMs] are irrelevant,” she said.
ILGA announced that it is complying with the court orders, but says the judgment impacts its decision-making processes and powers.
A meeting was held on 21 June, where the regulator considered the decision, its impact on applications relating to transfers and threshold increases, as well as what it sees as the importance of predictability in the market.
An appeal was filed that day in respect of the decision, and seeking a swift resolution ILGA also submitted an application for expedition, which was granted, with the appeal set for hearing on 16 August.
In its ‘Grounds’ for the appeal, ILGA stated “The Court erred in declaring that … considerations of the possible or likely impacts on the local community are irrelevant”.
The Supreme Court ruling could throw into doubt conditions already placed on pubs’ pokies rooms, and comes in the wake of a series of new measures by the new Labor State Government, most recently including reducing the number of entitlements available to pubs and clubs in the state.
After careful consideration of its options and the potential consequences, this month ILGA has decided, as an interim measure, to defer consideration of matters that may be impacted by the outcome of the pending appeal.
The following application matters will be deferred:
- Increases to gaming machine thresholds not requiring local impact assessments (LIAs)
- Transfer of gaming machine entitlements
- Leasing of gaming machine entitlements
ILGA reported to PubTIC it is “inappropriate” for it to comment any further on the matter while it is under appeal.
“The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority can confirm it has temporarily deferred decisions on some gaming machine applications as they may be affected by a recent Supreme Court decision,” offered a spokesperson from the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority.
