The Victorian government has confirmed it will begin trialling mandatory account-based play from September, following earlier delays.
The three-month trial will involve 43 venues with gaming machines across Monash, Greater Dandenong, and Ballarat.
“We’re leading the country with our major reforms to prevent gambling harm across Victoria,” Minister for Gaming Enver Erdogan said in a statement.
“This trial is an important first step – helping people take control of their gambling and make better choices.”
Originally slated for mid-2025, the trial was delayed while the Gambling Legislation Amendment (Pre-commitment and Carded Play) Bill 2024 progressed through Parliament, passing on Tuesday 27 May. At the time, the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission said the delay would allow the government to examine national best practices and assess technology-neutral options.
Despite assurances from the government that venues would be supported with training, materials and in-venue assistance ahead of the trial, Community Clubs Victoria CEO Andrew Lloyd said clubs have been given little notice.
Club Management understands participating venues were only notified late last Friday that the trial would proceed and that an information session is scheduled for Tuesday.
Lloyd has described the trial is off to a “bumpy start” and described the level of specific information as “foggy”.
“The invitation to the information session was received by venues who are not in the trial and some venues in the trial never received the email,” he said.
Lloyd also raised concerns about what financial impact the trial would have on clubs, particularly given the short notice.
“The clubs will have to increase their staff rosters to ensure they have a substantial number of staff on the gaming floor explaining everything to the customers – and that’s unbudgeted wage costs. But it’s critical for a trial, you need to really look after and inform your customers.”
The trial will require patrons to use a YourPlay card and set loss limits before playing gaming machines. While cards can be issued on the spot, Lloyd criticised the technology.
“The minister said he wanted technology for the next 20 years, but YourPlay isn’t it. It’s very clunky. Why are you trialling outdated technology?”
He also renewed calls for the government to release the evaluation report from the Crown Casino carded play rollout.
“Why are you pushing ahead with this trial when you haven’t even released the evaluation report of Crown Casino? Did the Crown Casino carded-play implementation meet its objective?”
Club Management has reached out to the Minister for Gaming for additional comments.
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