Gambling advocates have shared their disappointment after learning the State Government’s gambling trial doesn’t include mandatory pre-commitment.
The new trial for Greater Dandenong, Monash and Ballarat set to roll out from September will introduce a mandatory account-based carded play but as an option, gamblers “can set loss limits,” according to a Government media release on 23 July.
This was also reportedly confirmed at a meeting hosted by Gaming and Liquor team at the Department of Justice and attended by City of Greater Dandenong’s executive staff.
It comes as a shock after Council and gambling advocates including Tim Costello initially embraced what they believed would be a mandatory pre-commitment not an option as announced in an early press release on 21 July.
Greater Dandenong Council deputy mayor Sophie Tan says they have drafted a letter to the Minister for Casino, Gambling and Liquor Regulation expressing their disappointment that pre-set loss limits are optional.
“Since the government’s announcement we have been working with the Department of Justice and Community Safety, who are running the trial, to understand further details.
“Gambling has a significant impact on our community, with $138 million lost to electronic gaming machines in the City of Greater Dandenong in 2024/24.
“We continue to advocate for stronger gambling reform, including the implementation of mandatory pre-set loss limits on the YourPlay card.”
The information was communicated to councillors at a Councillors Briefing Session (CBS) meeting on Monday 4 August.
A shocked councillor Rhonda Garad is questioning whether they were lied to by the state government.
“My reaction was we have to put out a release to say what we passed in the motion was incorrect and ask why this was changed? Were we lied to?
“It’s just very puzzling but if it’s true, its deeply disturbing to be told one thing and accounted another.
“My question is, has gambling industry interfered with this?”
After the initial announcement of the trial, the council had sent out a media release embracing the “pre-commitment” trial.
Chief advocate at the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Tim Costello says he is 100 per cent confident this is the result of the gambling industry’s influence.
“They’ve always opposed a mandatory trial.
“We always understood it was mandatory (pre-commitment) – it’s a waste of trial, it’s not even a trial, it’s a cosmetic sham to fool the public they are doing something but all they’re doing is deceiving the public.
“That’s ridiculous if there’s no limits. It’s effectively going – you bought a car without a brake, you don’t need to do anything.”
The purpose of the trial is to merely test the software changes needed to implement mandatory account based carded play on EGMs.
“It’s of no use whatsoever because it’s to test whether the technology allows mandatory card to be used on all of the pokies beyond the Crown-if its optional it’s got no use,” Mr Costello says.
“Truth is, they don’t need to do a trial of YourPlay, we know the technology can work…”
A consultation was undertaken with industry and stakeholders for the gambling trial.
Alliance for Gambling Reform director of policy, leaderships council and government engagement, Rebecca Paterson was also part of that consultation phase.
She was also at the meeting with the Greater Dandenong Council and the department, where the news dawned on her.
According to her, there were no red flags during the consultation phase that it’d be an optional pre-commitment for players.
“There was no indication that we were talking about anything other than it being precisely binding limits, they didn’t say anything about it being different.
“We want there to be mandatory carded play with limits across all venues in Victoria.
“If we don’t test that during this trial than we may miss an opportunity to ensure a wider rollout is considered that might come rom the complete reform.”
Ms Paterson plays multiple roles also a councillor at City of Monash.
She says it’s worthwhile advocating to include the pre-commitment in this trial but it’ll be “challenging if they’ve already spoken to the industry that loss limits won’t be mandatory.”
“I almost thought it must’ve been a mistake because it doesn’t accord with the media release.
“Without mandatory loss limits we don’t get a sense of how effective it could be to reduce gambling harm on a larger scale.”
In the two media releases that were released in July, one mentioned people “can set loss limits” and the other without the word “can,”. The latter was released first.
The Minister’s office for Gaming, Casino and Liquor Regulation responded saying its first release was not clear enough hence the second release with the word people “can set loss limits.”
“People gambling at these venues will need to use a YourPlay card to play electronic gaming machines and set loss limits – helping put the power back into the hands of patrons and prevent money laundering,” it initially read.
Without a mandatory pre-commitment card play, players can easily feed their gambling addiction making it to be much dangerous and worse than the use of cash which has a $500 withdrawal per card in 24 hours.
This new gambling trial comes after a delay, originally set to roll out by mid-2025 underpinned by the Gambling Legislation Amendment (Pre-commitment and Carded Play) Bill 2024.
As is in the name, it was widely reported and published as a ‘mandatory pre-commitment system’ including by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission.
YourPlay is not new, its already implemented in Crown Casino from 14 December 2023 making it mandatory for players to set time and loss limits on their YourPlay cards.
