CAOG Report - "Gaming, Tobacco and Local Government in Victoria: A State of Readiness?"

:. A report released by CAOG on 30th January seeks to provide an analysis of Local Government planner knowledge of relevant gaming legislation and of processes used by planners to action the revised responsibilities resultant from planning amendments made in October, 2006 which require all applications for new gaming machine venues, or for additional Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs or Poker Machines) to be added to existing venues, to receive local government planning approval. The report also explores the views of Local Government planners on the forthcoming changes to licensed venue design requirements prescribed by the Tobacco Act, to be amended in July 2007. The methodology for this report included a survey tool administered to Local Government planning professionals, a desktop review of publicly available information from Councils, and experiences of the CAOG project.

The findings of the report indicate that generally, whilst tools exist in the sector to assess gambling in the planning realm, there is a case to be made for efforts to strengthen the knowledge and awareness of what is required under the changed legislation on gaming and to a lesser extent, tobacco. With some targeted resources and support, the issues put forward in this report can be adequately addressed. The recommendations contained in this report have therefore been developed with a view to strengthening the planning capacity of the local government sector in decision making on gaming venue applications. The recommendations have been framed with the desire to build the sector’s expertise on gaming as well as liberate resources for the benefit of all stakeholders across Victoria.

DOWNLOAD REPORT - Gaming, Tobacco and Local Government in Victoria: A State of Readiness? (pdf 808kb)

Local Planning and Regional Caps Announcements

Chess Board Local Planning
:. On Wednesday 18th October, 2006 the Victorian Government gazetted the changes to local planning provisions in relation to gaming venues (Download Gazette number S 276). The amendments alter planning powers relating to new and existing gaming venues by removing the previous clause where if the gaming room took up less than 25% of the total licensed floor-space, the venue did not require a planning permit for gaming machines. All applications for new gaming venues, or for additional gaming machines in existing venues will now require local council planning permission regardless of the floor space percentage for gaming machines. In parallel, changes were made to the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 to allow for the planning changes in the VPPs to take effect. These changes were also gazetted at the same time (Download Gazette No S 277).
The changes to the gaming provisions can be found in the revised clause 52.28 of the Victorian Planning Provisions (52.28 'Gaming'). Read the official notice of the planning changes from the Department of Sustainability and Environment. DSE has also distributed an advisory note to planners regarding the planning changes (Download advisory note).

Additions to Regional Caps
:. New regional caps on EGM numbers were also released on October 18th, 2006. Excepting for the combined cap area of City of Greater Geelong and Borough of Queenscliffe, all of the cap areas have now been aligned to local government boundaries (or parts thereof where post code caps are applied). In total, there are now 19 capped areas in Victoria where the density of EGMs per adult population will be reduced to 10 EGMs/1000 adults over the next 12 months. In addition, a global cap of 10 EGMs/1000 adults for all local government areas in Victoria (with the exception of the Melbourne central business district, Southbank, and Docklands) will also be enacted by 2010.
The Regional Electronic Gaming Machine Caps Panel was led by the Hon. Rob Hudson MP. The panel's report of November 2005 is now available (Download Caps Panel Final Report). This report outlines the panel's findings in relation to the previous round of regional caps, and makes nine recommendations for future caps considered by the Victorian Government in deciding the details of the recently released caps expansion.
The Government's implementation of the planning changes and response to the regional caps report are outlined in the Taking Action on Problem Gambling - A Strategy for Combating Problem Gambling in Victoria the Victorian Government's five year strategy on gambling which was released on 18 October 2006.