|
23/9/2002 Edition No.30
Victorian
Casino
and
Gaming Authority has Disappeared!
LATEST:
An article from ‘The Age’ newspaper, 20/09/02, reported that the VCGA
has finally become transparent; in fact it has disappeared all together!
"In an admission that the regulation of gaming in Victoria has been
seriously flawed for the past decade, the State Government yesterday
announced plans to abolish the Victorian Casino and Gaming Authority and
strip the state's chief gaming regulator of his powers.
Amid calls for his sacking, Gaming Minister John Pandazopoulos released
a government report that called for a massive overhaul of the state's
gaming laws and found the existing regulatory bodies lacked "transparency"
and "accountability".
Mr Pandazopoulos also confirmed the authority's director of gaming, betting
and casino surveillance, Bill Lahey, would be redeployed in the public
service in a non-statutory role after several investigations into his
conduct.
"Issues have been raised about the judgment that he has made in his capacity
as an independent statutory office holder," Mr Pandazopoulos said. A spokesman
for Mr Lahey, who is also chief executive of the Office of Gambling Regulation,
said he was unavailable for comment. The authority's chairman, Brian Forrest,
is on leave.
Mr Pandazopoulos said the government's review panel found the state's
gaming laws and organisational structures were confusing and ambiguous.
The panel, which is headed by a Department of Justice official, said
of the authority: "The current VCGA is not seen as performing effectively
and has major difficulties with its decision-making transparency and accountability."
The panel was established by Premier Steve Bracks after a report by Ombudsman
Barry Perry into Mr Lahey's acceptance, or demand for, a $US200,000
($364,518) payment from an American poker-machine maker he was investigating.
Dr Perry found Mr Lahey's decision to be inappropriate and likened Victoria's
confusing gaming laws to a "bowl of spaghetti".
Mr Pandazopoulos said the government wanted to establish a Commissioner
for Gambling Regulation to replace the nine-member authority board. The
commissioner will also receive assistance from two part-time commissioners.
A Commissioner for Responsible Gaming has also been proposed.
"That will create more accountability, more streamlined processes, and
people taking full responsibility for the decisions they make," he said.
Opposition gaming spokesman Robert Clark said Mr Pandazopoulos knew about
the payment well before he claimed and had made Mr Lahey the scapegoat
for his own mistakes.
"The minister knew weeks before this payment scandal became public .
. . he ought to have known it was inappropriate (but) he failed to act
until the story broke," Mr Clark said.
"He's backed Mr Lahey every step of the way and now the minister should
be going, along with his chief bureaucrat. What's happening at the moment
is a typical Yes, Minister exercise; reshuffle the bureaucrats and take
the heat off the minister."
Interchurch gambling taskforce spokesman Tim Costello said changes
to Victoria's gaming laws and regulators were long overdue and he
hoped the new commissioners would be more independent."
White Knight believes it is time to contact the Ombudsman, Barry Perry,
re the discriminatory Rule 5.12 of the game of Blackjack before the "new"
regulator gets a chance to approve the rules. The rule in its current
form says:
"A gaming Shift Manager may limit a player to one box and to the
minimum wager for that box displayed on the sign at a Blackjack table.
The VCGA Inspector must be notified prior to a player being limited
to a limited table wager"
Obviously there is going to be some rewriting of rules and change in
procedures. If you were unhappy with complaints you might have made in
the past to the soon-to-be redundant VCGA, you can write a letter to:
The Ombudsman
Level 22, 459 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000.
Best of Betting!
‘CC’
News
25/8/2002
Copyright ©1998-present. OZmium Pty. Ltd. All rights
reserved.
|