Australia: ALH fined for permitting underage gambling at multiple venues

The Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH) has been fined AU$177,500 (US$119,000) after pleading guilty to 24 charges related to underage gambling and poor supervision of electronic betting terminals.

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) brought the charges for incidents that took place between September 2022 and October 2023 at multiple venues.

Among the most serious breaches was allowing a teenager to gamble repeatedly at five different ALH locations. Another incident involved an eight-year-old child entering a poker machine area at the Westside Taverner, though the child was accompanied by an adult.

VGCCC CEO Annette Kimmitt commented: “It’s well documented that minors who gamble are at higher risk of experiencing significant harm from gambling as adults. All venues have a legal and social duty to prevent children from being exposed to this risk. We have zero tolerance for operators who disregard the law, particularly when it involves minors.”

She added: “While I commend the staff at Westside Taverner for intervening when they realized there was a minor in the gambling area, it should never happen in the first place.”

The penalties included AU$175,000 for the teenager’s case, AU$2,500 for the incident involving the child, and AU$45,000 in legal costs to be paid to the VGCCC.

This prosecution is part of a broader VGCCC crackdown on underage gambling violations. Other venues have faced fines ranging from AU$5,220 to AU$370,417 for similar offences.

Additionally, the VGCCC fined Tabcorp AU$4.6m earlier this year for breaches of the state’s gambling code, which VGCCC chair Fran Thorn described as “systemic failures,” including incidents of significant harm to a customer.