Industry Alert - ATM Placement and Signage

The NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (the Authority) has recently updated the Gaming Machines Regulation 2019 (the Regulation) to restrict the risk of ATM’s located near gaming machines. Two measures were introduced on 1 July 2024 to address this risk. The first restricts the use of signs which advertise gaming machines and ATMs in licensed premises, and the second prevents an ATM and gaming machines being in the physical proximity of each other.

The changes include requiring that no signage advertising an ATM can be visible from a gaming room, nor can a sign advertising a gaming machine be visible from an ATM. A gaming room is defined to be any room which has a licensed gaming machine within it. These changes have been enforced since 1 August 2024.

Further changes will be implemented from 1 January 2025 and relate to the proximity of the gaming machines and ATM’s. These new changes prohibit ATM’s from being in the line of sight from any part of a gaming room. They also prohibit ATM’s from being located within a 5-metre straight line radius of any point of entry to a gaming room.

The Authority recognises that some venues may not be able to comply with the 5-metre radius requirement due to the size of their premises or other regulations. As a result, they will allow venues to submit written submissions seeking exemption from this requirement until the 1 January 2025. The 5-metre requirement will not be strictly enforced only for the whole of the month of January 2025, provided evidence of a real attempt to comply with the new Regulations is established.