Wednesday, 9 March 2022
Bills
Gambling and Liquor Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
Gambling and Liquor Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
Statement of compatibility
Ms HORNE (Williamstown—Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Fishing and Boating) (10:39): In accordance with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 I table a statement of compatibility in relation to the Gambling and Liquor Legislation Amendment Bill 2022.
In accordance with section 28 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (the ‘Charter’), I make this Statement of Compatibility with respect to the Gambling and Liquor Legislation Amendment Bill 2022.
In my opinion, the Gambling and Liquor Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 as introduced to the Legislative Assembly, is compatible with human rights as set out in the Charter. I base my opinion on the reasons outlined in this statement.
Overview
The Bill amends the Casino Control Act 1991, the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 and the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 to remove obsolete sections and references and make other miscellaneous amendments. It introduces a prohibition on online community and charitable gaming, extends the time to claim unpaid winnings from 6 to 12 months, and expands existing state of emergency provisions to capture the new pandemic declaration.
Human Rights Issues
The human rights protected by the Charter that are relevant to the Bill are:
Property rights (section 20)
Rights in criminal proceedings (section 25)
Section 20—Property rights
Section 20 of the Charter provides that a person must not be deprived of his or her property other than in accordance with law. This right will be engaged by amendments that affect someone’s ability to access funds or to generate revenue from particular activities.
Clauses 133–135 promote the right to property by giving gamblers up to 12 months to claim their prizes directly from the licensee. Previously people had only 6 months to claim refunds, dividends and winnings from the licensee before the money was transferred to the Treasurer to be treated as unclaimed money.
Clauses 137 and 138 limit this right by prohibiting the sale of lucky envelopes online and the conduct of online bingo thus restricting the ability of a person to generate revenue via these products. These limits are lawful, being consistent with other prohibitions under the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 (GRA). The amendments are necessary to address the higher risk of harm associated with online gambling activities.
Clauses 13 and 140 also limit the right to property by requiring gaming venue or casino patrons, as the case may be, to wait 24 hours before being given access to winnings via electronic funds transfer. This limit is justifiable because it constitutes an important harm minimisation measure aimed at preventing people from immediately gambling away their winnings.
Section 25—Rights in criminal proceedings
Section 25(1) of the Charter provides a right to be presumed innocent until found guilty while section 25(2) requires that a person charged with a criminal offence be entitled to certain guarantees.
Clauses 137 and 138 of the Bill engage this Charter right by introducing several new offences to the Act. New section 8.4.2AA of the GRA prohibits the sale of lucky envelopes online while new section 8.4.7B prohibits the running of bingo and the sale of bingo tickets online. I do not consider that these offences limit rights in criminal proceedings because they are strict liability offences, and the burden of proof sits with the prosecution. Even if these offences were to engage the right, they would be justifiable on the basis that they address the considerable risk of harm associated with these activities being conducted online.
Hon Melissa Horne MP
Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation
Second reading
That this bill be now read a second time.
I ask that my second-reading speech be incorporated into Hansard.
Incorporated speech as follows:
This government is proud to lead Australia in efforts to address gambling-related harm.
The government has provided the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation with $153 million over four years to deliver on its mandate to reduce the prevalence and severity of gambling-related harm. This represents the nation’s largest commitment to address problem gambling.
The government has also introduced other reforms to lead the way on reducing gambling-related harm, including:
• introducing Australia’s first state-wide pre-commitment system, YourPlay, which is available on every gaming machine in Victoria
• prohibiting ATMs in gaming venues and imposing $200 transaction and $500 daily EFTPOS withdrawal limits. Victoria is the only Australian mainland jurisdiction without ATMs in gaming venues; and
• capping the total number of gaming machines in the State until 2042 and setting regional caps and municipal limits on gaming machine entitlements. The caps and limits help to ensure that Victoria remains the Australian jurisdiction with the lowest density of gaming machines, except for Western Australia (which does not permit gaming machines outside the casino).
We have also established a stronger, more focused regulator through the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission. The new regulator will have oversight of all gambling and gaming activities within Victoria—from gaming machine through to the casino.
This Bill builds on the work of the government by introducing further harm minimisation measures and improving the regulatory framework for gambling in Victoria.
I now turn to the provisions of the Bill before the House.
The Bill makes amendments to the Casino Control Act 1991 to enable the casino operator to pay gaming machine winning by electronic funds transfer. The provisions replicate provisions applying to clubs and hotels.
The makes a number of amendments to the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 (GRA).
The Bill amends the requirements for the term of a wagering and betting licence to replace the current fixed term of 12 years with provisions that enable the licence term to be specified in the licence. This will enable the government to determine the most appropriate licence term at a point in time, having regard to best available evidence and an understanding of the value to the State.
The Bill also makes changes to the cross-ownership restrictions applying to the monitoring licensee to reinstate the ability for the monitoring licensee to provide technical services for gaming machines and player account equipment for venue operators. The ability to provide technical services was inadvertently prohibited in 2011 by changes to the structure of the Roll of Manufacturers, Suppliers and Testers. However, the cross-ownership provisions as originally enacted in 2009 permitted the monitoring licensee to provide technical services for gaming machines and player account equipment to venue operators.
The Bill also makes changes to the requirements for unpaid jackpot funds held by venue operators. These are amounts that are remaining in a jackpot special prize pool after all prizes won on a linked jackpot arrangement have been paid. These are player funds and must be returned to players as part of the return to player rate.
When a venue operator retires a linked jackpot in the future, the Bill will require that any unpaid jackpot funds are allocated to another linked jackpot arrangement operating in that approved venue. The Bill will also permit unpaid jackpot funds to be transferred between venue operators when an approved venue is transferred.
When unpaid jackpot funds are not allocated to another linked jackpot in the approved venue, they will be required to be paid into the Responsible Gambling Fund established under the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation Act 2011 and will be used by the Foundation to provide programs and services to reduce gambling-related harm.
A review by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission has revealed that there are some venue operators holding unpaid jackpot funds from jackpots retired in the past. To ensure these funds are returned to players, the Bill includes provisions requiring venue operators to transfer such funds to other linked jackpots operating in their venue within 12 months of the provisions commencing. Where these funds are not allocated to other linked jackpots, they must be paid into the Responsible Gambling Fund.
The Bill will repeal Chapter 7 of the Gambling Regulation Act which deals with interactive gaming. Since 2001, interactive gaming has been regulated by the Commonwealth through the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. Chapter 7 of the Gambling Regulation Act is being repealed to avoid uncertainty and inconsistency with the Commonwealth regulation of interactive gaming.
The Bill will also make changes to community and charitable gambling. The Bill increases the threshold for raffles that require a minor gaming permit. Raffles with prizes not exceeding $20,000 in value will no longer be required to obtain a minor gaming permit and the threshold amount will be indexed each year from 1 July 2023. Currently, raffles with prizes exceeding $5,000 require a minor gaming permit. This amendment will reduce the regulatory burden on community and charitable organisations and recognises that raffles are not associated with a high risk of gambling-related harm.
The Bill will prohibit provision of online community and charitable gambling to minimise the risk of gambling-related harm.
Chapter 8 of the Gambling Regulation Act provides for minor gambling activities conducted for charitable purposes and establishes a regulatory framework to minimise the burden on charitable organisations. The minor gaming nature of these activities would be altered if they were permitted to be provided online. If such activities were provided online, there would be an increased risk of gambling-related harm that would require appropriate standards and requirements that would impose a significant burden on charitable organisations.
To address this, bingo, fundraising events and lucky envelopes will be expressly prohibited from being conducted or sold online.
The Bill makes other changes to improve the operation of the Gambling Regulation Act. It includes amendments to clarify the process for payment of gaming machine winnings by electronic funds transfer and increases the period of time that unclaimed prizes are held by the wagering and betting, keno and public lottery licensees before being paid to the Treasurer from 6 months to 12 months.
The Bill also repeals obsolete provisions related to the former gaming machine industry structure. Following the changes in 2012, provisions relating to a gaming operator’s licence, a gaming licence and a wagering licence are obsolete as these licences can no longer be granted under the Gambling Regulation Act. The Bill will remove references to these obsolete licence types from the Gambling Regulation Act, the Casino Control Act and the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998.
The Bill also makes other amendments to the Liquor Control Reform Act.
The Liquor Control Reform Amendment Act 2021 (Liquor Amendment Act) amended the Liquor Control Reform Act to expressly regulate the supply of liquor via orders placed on the internet. These amendments included:
• creating a new licence category of online-only vendor packaged liquor licence,
• allowing certain licences to supply liquor online without an additional licence,
• applying standard conditions to online orders,
• obligations and offences relating to online supply.
The Bill will amend the Liquor Control Reform Act to expand this regulation to not only apply to online but other forms of remote ordering, including telephone, mail order, facsimile and other forms of electronic communication. This recognises that there are other forms of remote ordering that were not captured by the original amendments and will ensure that the regulation of all forms of remote ordering is consistent.
The Bill will rename the “online-only vendor packaged liquor licence” to a “remote seller’s packaged liquor licence” so it applies to all licensees who supply liquor for delivery but do not have a physical retail outlet for customers.
The Liquor Amendment Act introduced measures that were designed to assist licensees while a state of emergency was in place, within the meaning of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (PHWA). The recently amended PHWA now provides that a state of emergency ceases to be in force following the making of a pandemic declaration. The Bill will extend the measures introduced by the Liquor Amendment Act relating to a state of emergency to the new pandemic declaration, therefore allowing licensees to continue to benefit from these measures despite the changes to the PHWA.
The Liquor Amendment Act repealed the requirement for a licensee to give the regulator a plan of the licensed premises when requested. The Bill will make a technical amendment to the Liquor Control Reform Act to replace a redundant reference to this requirement with an obligation for the licensee retain a plan provided to the regulator in accordance with that Act.
I commend the Bill to the house.
Ms McLEISH (Eildon) (10:40): I move:
That the debate be adjourned.
Motion agreed to and debate adjourned.
Ordered that debate be adjourned for two weeks. Debate adjourned until Wednesday, 23 March.