VGCCC fines Preston Hotel AU$25k
The VGCCC has recently issued a fine of just over 25 thousand Australian dollars to the Preston Hotel.
The regulatory authority’s latest penalty was issued to the operator of the Preston Hotel in Preston, Victoria for letting an underage person gamble at the establishment’s gambling venue on several occasions. The VGCCC reported that the person in question was 16 years old and played at the hotel’s gambling terminals six times in the period between May and September of last year.
The regulator stated that it imposed the penalty on the operator in May of this year after being informed about the violation having taken place. The case was then taken to court, where the gambling venue’s penalty was recently finalized. The Preston Hotel was able to receive a smaller fine of 25.3 thousand Australian dollars due to its cooperation with the regulator and willingness to rectify its failures.
The VGCCC mentioned that this was one of the first cases of its kind in the regulator’s work toward charging operators that allowed underage gambling across the Australian state, with eight additional cases expected to be finalized in the near future. The regulator added that these violating venues were predominantly located in Melbourne and that Tabcorp was one of the involved operators.