Page 3320 - Week 09 - Thursday, 24 August 2017
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assessment to determine how many gaming machines and FATGs may actually be operated in the casino. The SIA will need to be made available for public consultation for eight weeks before the commission determines the maximum number of gaming machines and FATG terminals on the casino’s authorisation certificates.
Once the casino has its authorisation certificates, it can commence buying authorisations from clubs and hotels. The bill provides that the casino licensee must acquire at least 50 per cent of its authorisations from small and medium clubs and club groups, or hotels. This is in line with this government’s recognition of the economic and social contribution of our local community clubs, also demonstrated in recently announced assistance measures, including the gaming machine tax rebate and the community club grant.
Importantly, any authorisations the casino buys will be restricted and there will be no gaming machines or FATG terminals in the casino until redevelopment and harm minimisation requirements have been met. Specifically, the authorisations will not be operational until the Planning and Land Authority has certified that the casino has completed prescribed stages of the redevelopment of the casino and casino precinct. In addition, the Gambling and Racing Commission must be satisfied about the gaming area, gaming rules and control procedures, and that sufficient harm minimisation measures are in place.
This government has committed to reducing the maximum number of gaming machine authorisations in the territory to 4,000 by 2020. The bill provides that any authorisations for electronic gaming products at the casino will be counted as part of the 4,000. For this reason the definition of the maximum number of authorisations will be moved out of the Gaming Machine Act 2004 and into the Gambling and Racing Control Act 1999, the overarching legislation for regulating gaming in the ACT.
This bill will provide access to the gaming machine trading scheme for the casino licensee and will require all authorisations for gaming machines or FATGs to be acquired through the scheme with one in every three authorisations acquired being forfeited. This means that the casino would need to acquire 390 authorisations, and forfeit 130 of these, if the casino is approved to operate the maximum possible 200 gaming machines and 60 FATG terminals. Depending on timing, this forfeiture may assist in reaching the maximum 4,000 authorisations.
The bill will reassure the Canberra community that strong harm minimisation measures will be in place for electronic gaming at the casino. The bill provides that at a minimum the following harm minimisation measures apply: casino gaming machines and FATG terminals must be able to be connected to a centralised monitoring system; the maximum bet limit amount for casino gaming machines is limited to $5 or a lower amount set by regulation; and casino gaming machines require mandatory pre-commitment to a net loss limit, the amount a player is prepared to lose in a given playing session, with players also being able to set a time limit.
On the maximum bet limit for gaming machines, I want to emphasise that $5 is a starting point. The reason why this bill allows for lower amounts to be set by
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