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Client Update: Retail Leasing – 3 September 2008

Further amendments to the Gaming Machine Act 2001 (NSW)

In brief: The New South Wales Government has extended the exemption to the temporary freeze on applications for relocating gaming machines. Partner Grant Higgins and Lawyer Mark Ryan report.

Amendments to the Gaming Machine Act 2001 (NSW), which began on 14 April 2008, introduced a number of interim measures focused on restricting the grant of new, and the transfer of existing, gaming machine entitlements until new legislation is introduced into the NSW Parliament later this year. This is known as the 'period of the freeze'.

By way of summary, three main changes to the Act were introduced:

  • An application to transfer a poker machine entitlement (under a hotelier's licence) must be supported by each person who has a financial interest in the hotelier's licence. For the purposes of the Act, a lessor of the hotelier's premises is a person who has a financial interest in the hotelier's licence.
  • An application by a person for authorisation to keep or dispose of a gaming machine must be accompanied by social impact assessment (SIA). A SIA is a mechanism to review the effect and extent of gaming machines in particular geographic areas. During the 'freeze', an application for the grant of new, or the transfer of existing, gaming machine entitlements will not be approved if, as a consequence of the approval, the total number of gaming machines for a particular area, hotel or club will exceed the SIA threshold for that area, hotel or club.
  • An application for authorisation to keep a multi-terminal gaming machine will not be granted during the 'period of the freeze' if the grant of the authorisation would result in multi-terminal gaming machines comprising more than 15 per cent of the total gaming machines authorised to be kept at particular premises.
Extension of exemption to temporary freeze

Further to the above amendments, the New South Wales Government has now extended the exemption to the temporary freeze on applications for relocating gaming machines.

Hoteliers or registered clubs may now relocate gaming machines from a hotel or club to new premises as long as the new premises is located within one kilometre of the original premises and the total number of gaming machines at the new premises does not exceed the SIA threshold for the original premises.

Further amendments to the Act foreshadowed by the New South Wales Government have not yet been released for public consideration.

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