Victoria's Gaming Operator Licence Expiry Dates Aligned
An anomaly between the end dates of Tatts Group and Tabcorp’s gaming operator licences will be resolved by extending Tatts’ licence for four months.
Victoria’s Gaming Minister Tony Robinson said this would ensure a smoother transition to the new gaming industry structure in 2012.
Mr Robinson said Tatts’ licence expires on April 14, 2012, and would be extended to align it with Tabcorp’s to avoid separate models operating simultaneously in Victoria’s gaming industry.
“The Government has set a new direction for Victoria’s gaming industry, removing the gaming machine operators and allowing pubs and clubs to own and operate electronic gaming machines and receive a greater share of gaming revenue,” Mr Robinson said. “Two different end dates for the gaming operator licences would result in both a gaming operator and venue operator model operating simultaneously, leading to unnecessary regulatory complexity and costs for Government and the industry. A single end date for the gaming operator duopoly is the most efficient approach for both the Government and the gaming industry, facilitating the transition to the new industry structure.”
Mr Robinson said extending Tatts’ licence for an additional four months would also make the gaming machine entitlement auction process easier to administer.
“Because the auction system does not differentiate between machines currently operated by Tatts or Tabcorp, the allocation of entitlements would have to be addressed in separate processes, increasing the costs of the auction,” he said.
A power to align the end dates of the gaming operator licences was introduced this year into the Gambling Regulation Act 2003.
The Act provides that Tatts may apply for a licence extension to August 15, 2012, if invited to by the Gaming Minister.
Tatts will continue to pay the same premium amount during the extension period, which is 7% of revenue from gaming machines.
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