On 21 January 2012, the Prime Minister; the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs; the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Minister for Financial Services jointly announced the Government’s plan to tackle problem gambling. Of the regulatory measures announced, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs has responsibility for
- ensuring that all new poker machines manufactured from 2013 are capable of supporting pre‑commitment;
- introducing a $250 daily withdrawal limit from ATMs in gaming venues (excluding casinos) by 1 February 2013;
- requiring that by 31 December 2016 all poker machines be part of a state linked pre-commitment system, except eligible small venues which will have an extra four years to implement this measure; and
- requiring electronic warnings and cost of play displays on poker machines by 2016.
A Regulation Impact Statement was deemed as required and was not submitted to the Office of Best Practice Regulation for consideration. Consequently, the Office of Best Practice Regulation has assessed the proposal for these measures as being non-compliant with the Australian Government’s best practice regulation requirements. A Post-implementation Review will be required within one to two years from the implementation of these regulatory measures. These measures are related to the Select Council of Gambling Reform (consisting of relevant Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers) announcement on 27 May 2011 that all new gaming machines will be required to have pre-commitment functionality from a date to be agreed. These measures were non-compliant with the Council of Australian Governments best practice regulation requirements (for further information see the 9 June 2011 web post).