A former hotel licensee of the St George Hotel at Belmore has been heavily fined for allowing patrons to play EGMs on Christmas Day.
An investigation by Liquor & Gaming NSW reviewed the pub’s gaming activity for 25 December 2022 and found that 30 gaming machines were operated and patrons were allowed to gamble during the period from 12pm to 10pm, which is outside of authorised times for the machines to operate.
In April Rawin Sirikwankul, licensee at the time, pleaded guilty in Downing Centre Local Court to 30 offences under the Gaming Machines Act 2001.
He was issued a fine of $16,500 for the breaches.
This announcement comes after the Royal Inn Hotel at Waratah was fined $7,500 in March for similar offences, with the regulator finding gaming machines had been operated during the venue’s 1am-7am shutdown period on three consecutive Saturdays (15, 22, 29) in April 2023.
The St George Hotel was sold by Redcape for around $47 million in late 2021 to Michael Wiggins and Joanne Cassar, who previously owned the Oxford Hotel at Drummoyne, before selling it to Laundy Hotels in 2019.
Jane Lin, Executive Director Regulatory Operations at Liquor & Gaming NSW, says these were “serious breaches” of regulations that are intended to reduce the risk of gambling harm to patrons by limiting the time they can spend playing, and operators must heed the warning.
“As this case shows, licensees who fail to abide by prescribed gaming machine trading hours can expect to be caught and face significant penalties.”
