VGCCC brings charges against ALH

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission has brought charges against ALH for operating gaming machines without the mandatory pre-commitment technology installed. The company faces a possible fine of up to $1.35 million.

The YourPlay technology allows people to set time and spending limits on their sessions at the pokies before they start gaming. Installation of the functionality is mandatory in Victoria under the Gambling Regulation Act 2003.

Endeavour Group has said it will continue to work with the VGCCC and that the 220 machines in question were new ones, installed as part of a new game and machine cabinet rollout and "an isolated but regrettable case of process and communication failure in our internal supply chain”.

The machines in question were installed across 62 of ALH's 77 Victorian venues and operational for up to 5 weeks without the functionality enabled. ALH operates a total of 4690 machines across Victoria.

Endeavour Group CEO Steve Donohue said: “We are acutely aware of the seriousness of this matter, and we are committed to doing all we can to ensure it does not happen again. At Endeavour we hold ourselves to the highest standard of responsibility, we regret that this has occurred and we will continue to work with the VGCCC.

“As soon as the matter was raised we deactivated the machines, and proceeded to address the concerns before re-testing the functionality. We can confirm YourPlay is active on all Victorian machines that we operate, with ALH also offering Voluntary Pre-Commitment at all venues on the mainland, as part of our national standard.”

VGCCC was alerted to the breach by an anonymous tip off in December 2021 after which venues in Hallam, Sandringham, Narre Warren, Mulgrave, Laverton and Cheltenham were inspected by VGCCC officers.

VGCCC CEO Annette Kimmitt AM said: “We have decided to prosecute ALH as the alleged breaches constituted serious and significant non-compliance across 80 per cent of all ALH’s Victorian venues.

“Anyone who holds a gambling licence in Victoria is on notice that they must, at a minimum, comply with their legal obligations to protect patrons from gambling harm. Having YourPlay installed and available on electronic gaming machines is a mandatory requirement to support safer gambling."