Queensland beefing up casino laws

Queensland, Australia is about to undergo a deep change in its casino gambling laws in a bid to regulate the industry better and bring more transparency and accountability in the sector. The announcement comes at roughly the same time that the New South Wales government fined The Star AU$100m ($63m) and said that the company was not suitable to hold a license.

In an official statement, Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Shannon Fentiman explained that the proposed "Casino Control and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022" will seek to make sure that all stakeholders, meaning casinos, will be obligated to ensure that they do everything in their power to reduce gambling harm.

The Amendment is an encompassing and ambitious piece of legislation that will seek to deter illegal gambling and also ensure that Queensland casinos act in an ethical and responsible way towards their customers. These new changes, as listed in the Amendment, are all the result of the so-called Gotterson Review, which found that casinos in Queensland have not always acted in good faith.

Fentiman explained that the Queensland government was interested in acting to make sure that the findings of the review were addressed quickly and that adequate law were passed as a result. Similar to other states in Australia, the Amendment essentially gives the government the right to appoint a special manager who can oversee any property for a given period of time.

Just like in New South Wales, Queensland may now slap properties with up to AU$100m maximum penalty. The Star Entertainment Group is also facing a show cause process and passing the Amendment in a timely manner will give the government more options to respond to the outcome of the process, Fentiman stated.

Queensland is not only focused on reforming its gambling and casino industry in a way that restricts properties. The key objective here is to considerably enhance player protection, something that will be achieved by virtue of several regulatory changes.

For starters, the regulatory framework is being changed to allow cashlessgambling, which is considered safer and a natural deterrent to money laundering. Money laundering failings were one of the main concerns that the Gotterson Review outlined. Thanks to the introduction of new payment methods, such as cashless, though, players will be better protected while authorities will have a clear and quick way to verify financial transactions, Fentiman suggested.

More reforms may be forthcoming, Fentiman added, and they will be the result of a careful review of the Gotterson Report. In August, Queensland announced that it will follow up on The Star Entertainment probe by potentially adding more casinos.

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