Liam McNally
Melton council has welcomed the state government’s sweeping reforms for the state’s Electronic Gambling Machine (EGM) industry.
On July 16, the state government announced there will be an introduction of mandatory pre-commitment limits, meaning patrons will set a loss-limit before they play and a load-up limit, which means a maximum of $100 can put into an EGM at once.
The government will also make it mandatory for all new EGMs to spin at a rate of three seconds per game and mandatory closure periods will be enforced for all gaming machine areas in a venue, except the casino, between 4am and 10am.
The closure period will be the first reform to come into effect by mid-2024, with the others to follow after consultation with industry.
From July last year to the end of May, EGM players in Melton lost more than $79.85 million across seven venues, the ninth highest spend in the state according to Victorian Gambling Control Commission data.
Melton council healthy connected communities manager Elyse Rider said the introduction of lower pre-commitment limits and mandatory six-hour closures of gaming areas align with the council’s existing gambling harm prevention and reduction policy.
“Council welcomes the state government’s new electronic gambling industry reforms, which aim to reduce harm as a result of gambling,” she said.
Endeavour Group, the parent company of Mac’s Hotel in Melton, said in a statement that there is still a great amount of detail to be worked before reform impact is understood, but it looks forward to working with the government on the implementation of the reforms.
There was $8.45 million lost on poker machines at the hotel between July 2022 and May.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the reforms will provide the strongest gambling harm preventions and anti-money laundering measures in Australia.
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello said Victorians have waited a very long time for meaningful and significant reforms such as this.
“We still need to see all of the details, but this will go a long way towards minimising gambling harm in our community as well as reducing the huge amounts of dirty money being laundered through poker machines,” he said.
