News South Wales announces ban success

Tina Dimitrijevic October 9, 2023

Liquor and Gaming New South Wales (NSW) has announced that 99 percent of venues across the state are now operating without outdoor gambling advertisements.

This data comes subsequent to the NSW regulator’s September 1st ban as part of a regulatory movement to protect problem gamblers from gambling advertising.

As part of this push Liquor and Gaming NSW followed up on the ban, inspecting over 1100 pubs and clubs across the Premier State.

This sample represents over 50 percent of all venues applicable to the ban due to their operation of gambling machines. These are often known as pokies in the Oceanic nation.

This makes for a promising outcome for NSW’s regulators with the Minister for Gaming and Racing, David Harris stating on the matter:

“It’s great to see industry and government working together to prevent and reduce gambling harm in the community and we will continue to do so.”

Compliance issues

The news wasn’t entirely as, despite the overwhelming majority of the sample size being in compliance, 16 venues in total did not adhere to the prohibition and were found displaying promotional signs outside.

The regulator has stated that these venues may face a fine if they are unable to prove the dealy to remove their gambling signs was caused by factors out of their control.

According to the ban announced in May, venues that fail to remove a sign in an adequate amount of time may face a penalty of up to 100 penalty units (AU$11,000).

Harris stated on NSW’s aims:

“Removing this signage for pubs and clubs is just one part of our commitment to reducing gambling harm in our community and I thank licensees and industry bodies for getting on board.”

Responsible gambling in Australia

Liquor and Gaming NSW emphasises with its findings that this ban is part of a wider effort to improve gambling protections and promote effective responsible gambling measures.

Additional initiatives have included reducing the cash input from $5,000 to $500 for all new electronic gaming machines after 1st July 2023.

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