Page 4685 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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harms. I would like to speak today about the consumer protection and harm minimisation measures in this bill.
The bill contains a number of measures to protect consumers and minimise harm and includes offence provisions where this is appropriate. For example, the new regime for charitable gambling has a number of safeguards, including limiting the number of charitable gambling events and ensuring that these events do not occur in existing licensed gambling venues where patrons may be tempted to go from charitable gambling to gambling with real money.
In addition, the regulations will provide that charitable gaming can be conducted only with play money, not actual cash. The regulations will further provide that participants in the games are given only one allocation of play money and that play money cannot be exchanged for real money. I draw to the attention of members the exposure draft of the regulation that was tabled with the bill in October.
The measures in the regulations are intended to further minimise any harm that could be associated with the introduction of charitable gambling. The conduct of charitable gambling is being permitted on the basis that participants may experience the concept of gaming in an environment that has minimal financial risk. The dissociation of betting with real money is therefore deliberate, in order to minimise the risk of potential financial harm and problem gambling. In this context, the restriction to only one allocation of play money ensures that persons do not purchase additional play money through the event and inadvertently spend more than they planned or intended at the commencement of the activity.
Another harm minimisation measure in the bill relates to private gaming. In recognition that private gaming is now generally accepted within the community, this bill will make this activity lawful. However, while the bill allows for private and social gaming, there are restrictions to ensure that commercial gambling is not operated under the guise of private gaming. This is an important measure that will enable the Gambling and Racing Commission to take action against unscrupulous persons that seek to exploit individuals in the context of private gaming.
A fundamental part of the government’s harm minimisation strategy in relation to lawful gambling is to ensure that persons under the age of 18 do not participate in gambling. It is of more significance that vulnerable persons under the age of 18 years do not participate in unlawful gambling. For this reason, the bill has a significant penalty of 200 penalty points, two years imprisonment or both for the conduct of unlawful gambling involving minors.
The bill includes a number of other measures to protect children from exposure to or participation in gambling. For example, under the bill it is unlawful for minors to participate in any way in charitable gambling; for a person to invite a child to bet; for a child to place a bet with a person knowing that they are a race or sports bookmaker, including by using a false identification or someone else’s identification; for a race or sports bookmaker to accept a bet placed by a child; and for a person to place a bet on behalf of a child with a race or sports bookmaker.
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