Pub giant fined $177k over underage gambling breaches

Australia’s largest pubs operator will cough up $177,000 for repeatedly flouting underage gambling laws.

An underage teenager was allowed to gamble on multiple occasions at five Melbourne pubs from September 2022 to October 2023, Victoria’s gambling watchdog said.

The Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group-run venues involved were the Albion Charles Hotel in Northcote, Cramers Hotel in Preston, Doncaster Hotel, Excelsior Hotel in Thomastown and Rose Shamrock & Thistle Hotel.

Separately, an eight-year-old child with an adult was not stopped from entering the poker machine area of Laverton’s Westside Taverner, another venue operated by the company.

The adult was spoken to by staff and asked to leave, before the incident was reported to the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission.

The operator pleaded guilty to 24 charges in Melbourne Magistrates Court, which ordered it pay a $177,500 fine plus $45,000 in costs to the watchdog.

All venues have a legal and social obligation to protect children from gambling, the regulator’s chief executive Annette Kimmitt said.

“It is well established that minors who gamble are more likely to experience severe harm from gambling as adults,” she said in a statement on Monday.

“We have zero tolerance for operators that flout the law, especially when children are involved.”

In June, Tabcorp was ordered to pay more than $370,000 after a 17-year-old gambled multiple times between May 2022 and October 2023 at 13 Tabcorp sites.

It followed the Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group copping a $550,000 penalty and $50,000 legal costs order in August 2023 for running 220 pokies across 62 venues without a compulsory pre-commitment feature

National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858

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Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)