The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission has given ALH Group a half-a-million-dollar fine for staying open past their allowed times. In what critics believe is a warning shot to other venues, the VGCCC is giving a second 6-figure fine to the Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH) for the year.
The Down Low
ALH holds the most licenses for pokie machines in Victoria – and in all of Australia. It has 4,790 electronic gaming machines (the maximum total allowed in the State) across 80 venues in Victoria. Around ten percent of those venues had been ignoring guidelines around mandatory shut-downs of their electronic gaming machine (EGM) areas. They also ignored the schedule of trading hours that they had nominated for those same gaming lounges.
In Victoria, EGMs must be shut down for four hours every twenty hours. On top of that, each venue must declare a schedule to the VGCCC of what times of the day each machine will be operational. If they waver from these nominated times or fail to shut down each day, they can be fined.
“ALH is majority-owned by the mega supermarket chain, Woolworths. It is estimated that AUD$1 billion of revenue is generated for Woolworths by ALH each year. “
Eight ALH venues were named in a statement released by the VGCCC; First and Last Hotel, Croxton Park Hotel, Albion Charles Hotel, Berwick Inn Taverner, The Millers Inn Hotel, Village Green Hotel, Elsternwick Hotel, and the Boundary Taverner. However, the Boundary Taverner was found to have misoperated their poker machines on only one day of that period.
Detection of Offences
The VGCCC stated that they, “detected activity outside of the permitted hours on 15 EGMs across the eight venues from 15 February 2023 to 25 May 2023”.
It is not stated how the activity was detected by the VGCCC. The government body has previously been open and candid about how misbehaviour has been detected. It is speculated that the detection could have been through YourPlay software. In Victoria, every gaming machine must have Intralot Gaming Services (IGS) monitoring software, YourPlay, installed and operational.
“The YourPlay monitoring software was originally intended to allow patrons to nominate voluntary pre-commitment goals, of time and money, for their pokie session.”
The YourPlay software does more than assist patrons with voluntary time-outs. From its inception in 2014, patrons could track themselves playing the pokies across the state at different venues. They could access their profile information at any venue or online. As time progressed, more utility was added to the software.
The YourPlay program can now also automatically assist venues to shut down their pokie machines in alignment with their officially stated schedule. If venues opt-in for this service any disciplinary action can be reduced. It is believed that the eight misbehaving venues will be required to opt-in to this YourPlay service moving forward.
It is not known if the most recent regulation infractions will impact the ALH venues’ Game License renewals.
ALH’s Previous Six-Figure Fine
Less than six months before this most recent set of infractions, the ALH Group was fined AUD$ 550,000 for failure to have the YourPlay software operating on their machines. The magistrate ruling on the case declared that the failure to install the software was “wilful” and deliberate.
Whistle-blowers from within the ALH ranks have previously released statements on revenue competitions that existed between ALH Gaming Venues Australia-wide. Personal information on high-rollers was shared amongst staff to encourage their spending. This is illegal in Australia and ALH was fined.
It has been speculated that the recent illegal extension of operating hours at the eight Victorian gaming venues could have been similarly fuelled by the culture of inter-venue competition over daily profit-taking.
The VGCCC Crack Down
The VGCCC has been setting records with huge fines to other major players in the gambling industry in Victoria. Only three months prior, Tabcorp had received a plus one-million-dollar fine, and Rumotel is facing a two-million-dollar fine.
Rumotel is being charged for similarly not having YourPlay installed and functional on some of its gaming machines, along with other misconduct.
In a statement released, regarding the ALH charges, the VGCCC explicitly stated that the large fines were to make an example of the cases. The VGCCC quite simply will not tolerate non-compliance by the big players on the field.
