ILGA to Appeal Supreme Court Judgment and Defer Gaming Decisions
23-115 | 7 July 2023
Relevant for Directors, CEOs, Managers
Member clubs are advised that today, the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) filed an expedited appeal against a recent NSW Supreme Court decision.
The decision involved three hotels successfully challenging ILGA’s power to impose harm minimisation conditions on gaming-related applications in certain circumstances. These include where a gaming threshold increase does not require a local impact assessment.
The Court invalidated ILGA’s requirements to have an incident register and employ a responsible gaming officer. In making its decision, the Court noted that the gaming machines legislation should provide “a predictable, certain and transparent way of keeping, transferring and leasing gaming machines.”
A copy of ILGA’s media release is available here. The full decision of the NSW Supreme Court is available here.
ILGA is deferring decisions on all gaming-related applications until their appeal is determined. The appeal is due to be heard by the Court of Appeals on 16 August 2023. It is unclear when the Court of Appeal will make its decision.
ClubsNSW will continue to work with the Government to ensure that the gaming machine laws, and the administration of those laws, support a predictable, certain and transparent system that features robust responsible gambling safeguards. To this end, we note that the ClubsNSW Gaming Code of Practice requires clubs to comply with similar responsible gambling requirements to those that were assessed by the Court.
If you have any questions, please contact ClubASSIST on 1300 730 001 and ask to speak to Policy and Government, or email enquiries@clubsnsw.com.au.