The 16-year-old boy, whose name has not been released to the media, placed the wagers between May and September 2022, The Guardian originally reported.

Teenager Spent Only a Few Minutes Wagering at a Time

A comment provided by the Preston Hotel legal representative, Ben Niall, explained that the teenager had only spent a few minutes betting before leaving the venue each time, and the total, $2,500 was indeed a small amount of what the boy had spent in other venues.

According to the publication, the teenager had been struggling with gambling addiction and had raked up to $95,000 of gambling debt. The boy is said to have gambled at least $100,000 at various venues across Australia.

The boy’s mother discovered her son’s addiction in April 2022 and had since sought help, but she kept hitting a dead end as most organizations – some 30 contacted in total – not be able to intervene and advised the mother to not allow her son access to money.

The mother had re-mortgaged her home and taken on extra work to cover the gambling debts. In the meantime, the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission has looked into the venues that supposedly allowed the teenager to spend money there, despite his addiction and not being of the appropriate gambling age.

Niall told the court that his client did not want to see children gambling and stated that the venue wanted to operate as a legitimate business and not prey on vulnerable individuals, let alone teenagers.

Although true, the onus is always on the venue and provider of gambling products to ensure that people who are not of the legal gambling age or suffer from gambling addiction, are unable to access their products, as confirmed by Magistrate Carolyn Howe.

Venues Need to Beef Up Their Screening of Who They Let Gamble

The case has made it all the way through to a Melbourne court where the details bout the case came to light. Problem and underage gambling is a serious issue in Australia, with the country undertaking a slew of measures designed to overhaul the industry and create a safer gambling framework for all.

The country has just introduced a credit card ban for online gambling, which will be coming into effect over the next six months (counting from royal ascent onwards).

Recently, eight venues and Tabcorp have been named by the VGCCC, but it’s not yet entirely clear if that statement has to do specifically with the story of the 16-year-old gambler, as revealed by the court.

The post Melbourne Pub Fined over 16-Year-Old Gambling at the Venue appeared first on Keno Wizard.

Letting minors gamble could cost a pub in Melbourne almost AU$ 222,000 ($149,850) after the Victoria gambling regulator got tipped, investigated and charged the venue.

Six Occasions of Letting Gambling by Minors

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) announced Friday that the staff at the Preston Hotel allowed a 16-year-old access to electronic terminals on six occasions last year – in May and September – which the minor used to place bets, reported The Guardian.

Glorija Kuzman, director for Gambling at the VGCCC, outlined that “all gambling operators – including venues and the holder of the statewide Wagering and Betting license – have an irrefutable legal requirement to do everything they can to stop children from gambling.”

“One of the most serious harms is minors gambling,” she said, deeply concerned with the violations.

The VGCCC charged the pub located in north-east Melbourne with 15 charges among which six counts of allowing a minor to gamble, six counts of failing to supervise its electronic betting terminals and three counts of allowing a minor to enter a gambling machine area – all carrying a maximum financial penalty of AU$221,904 ($149,785).

The Melbourne pub is not the only one charged for the violations as the watchdog also slapped charges on the holder of the statewide wagering and betting license, Tabcorp. Australia’s largest gambling operator is facing a maximum fine of nearly AU$104,000 ($70,200) over eight charges – four counts of allowing a minor to gamble and four counts of failing to supervise a gambling machine.

“We are very focused on managing the unique challenges of cash betting and continue to invest in this area to protect minors by stopping our equipment from being used in this way,” commented a spokesman for Tabcorp, adamant that the company is taking the matter seriously.

Urging the Public to Share Info on Possible Transgressions

The regulator also said other venues are also being investigated for similar offenses, urging the public to contact the watchdog and share information if they have witnessed occasions in which minors could have possibly gambled.

The charges against the Melbourne pub and Tabcorp is the latest enforcement action undertaken by the Victorian gambling watchdog which is not shy to enforce the regulations and slap huge fines on incumbents which are found to have violated the requirements.

At the end of last year, the VGCCC issued a fine of AU$1.35 million ($904,000) to the country’s major poker machine operator, Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH), for non-compliance with the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 related to the compulsory pre-commitment program YourPlay.

Earlier in the year, the watchdog penalized Crown Resorts with AU$80 million ($57.4 million) for allowing players at Crown Melbourne to use China Union Pay cards to make deposits between 2012 and 2016.

The post Melbourne Pub, Tabcorp Facing Fines for Letting Minors Gamble appeared first on Keno Wizard.