Responsible Gambling Policy Statements & Gaming Incident Registers

Responsible Gambling Policy Statement

The Responsible Gambling Policy  Statement sets out the minimum set of commitments that the board, management and staff will adhere to, to ensure compliance with the Gaming Code including; 

• Ensuring the provision and use of gambling products occur in a safe and enjoyable manner;

Venues will provide a safe venue for gaming where patrons’ welfare is managed by a Responsible Gambling Officer (RGO), which is trained staff who have undertaken the Advanced Responsible Conduct of Gaming certification. 

• The venue will prioritise customer welfare and sustainable gambling activities;

Duty managers and supervisors will be trained to identify problematic gaming behaviour to assist RGOs and report to the board on sustainable gaming practices.  

• The venue will adopt responsible gambling and harm minimisation measures in accordance with the Club Gaming Code of Practice;

The venue’s RGO will ensure that the club’s practices align with the implementation plan. These will outline how interactions with players will take place and how they are recorded, as well as how outcomes are reported to the board and how training is conducted for all staff.

• The venue will promote the social and economic benefits of responsible gambling and the gaming industry.

The venue will advertise the community benefits of their venues responsible gambling practices internally to their members and guests, as well as in the broader community to increase community trust. 

Once complete, the Statement must be approved at a board meeting. It is then best practice to display the Statement on the club’s noticeboard and website — alongside the club’s L&G licence conditions and ClubSAFE membership certificate. 

Gambling Incident Register

In addition to the Statement, the club must keep a gambling incident register to record any interaction where a patron may be showing strong indicators of problem gambling, if a family member raises a concern about a player’s gambling, if a player has reached a voluntary pre-commitment limit set or have been playing for three hours on a gaming machine.

Strong indicators can be one or more of the following; 

• seeking credit, borrowing or stealing money for gambling;
• seeking assistance or advice about controlling the person’s gambling; 
• enquiring about self-exclusion; 
• showing a significant decline in personal grooming and/or appearance over several days; 
• showing obvious or repeated signs of distress (e.g. shaking, swearing to themselves, crying after a loss, or outburst towards staff or machine); 
• friends or family who may raise concerns about the person’s gambling; 
• leaving a minor unattended while playing gaming machines.

Staff members must refer the incident to the duty manager or supervisor who is trained to have a discussion with patrons or family members.   

Once advice, information and assistance has been provided, all details of the interaction needs to be recorded in the gaming incident register. If the incident also involves alcohol or if the patron is requested to leave the premises for conduct unbecoming of a member, the venue must also complete details in the L&G incident register. 

If a venue wishes to digitise the gaming incident register, an EOI is available through CherryHUB for the CherryCHECK lite version of the app. The EOI is available here.

ClubsNSW has Gaming Code templates available here and the ClubSAFE team is also available at [email protected] or by contacting the ClubASSIST team on 1300 730 001.