Gambling Regulation (Pre-commitment Trial) Regulations 2025 (Vic)

Version No. 001

Gambling Regulation (Pre-commitment Trial) Regulations 2025

S.R. No. 81/2025

Version as at

1 October 2025

TABLE OF PROVISIONS

Regulation  Page

1Objective

2Authorising provision

3Commencement

4Definitions

5Application of these Regulations

6Player accounts

7Approved periods

8Approval of scheduled outage

9Approval of unscheduled outage

10Expiry

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Endnotes

1     General information

2     Table of Amendments

3     Explanatory details

Version No. 001

Gambling Regulation (Pre-commitment Trial) Regulations 2025

S.R. No. 81/2025

Version as at

1 October 2025

1Objective

The objective of these Regulations is to prescribe matters required as a result of amendments made to the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 by the Gambling Legislation Amendment (Pre‑commitment and Carded Play) Act 2025 to provide for a trial of pre-commitment technology.

2Authorising provision

These Regulations are made under section 11.2.1 of the Gambling Regulation Act 2003.

3Commencement

These Regulations come into operation on 1 October 2025.

4Definitions

In these Regulations—

casual player card means a player card on which there is stored a unique identification number that is allocated for that player card;

outage means a period during which all gaming machines in an approved venue are unable to connect to the pre-commitment system;

registered player card means a player card on which there is stored a unique identification number that is allocated for a particular person's use of a pre-commitment system;

scheduled outage means an outage that is required for the maintenance of—

(a)a pre-commitment system; or

(b)an electronic monitoring system;

the Actmeans the Gambling Regulation Act 2003;

unique identification number means a number allocated by a pre-commitment system for the purpose of identifying information held by the system in relation to either—

(a)a particular person's use of the pre‑commitment system; or

(b)the use of a particular player card with respect to the pre-commitment system;

unscheduled outage means an outage that is not a scheduled outage.

5Application of these Regulations

These Regulations apply if a direction is in force under section 3.8A.13A of the Act in relation to the geographical areas, venues or gaming machines specified in that direction.

6Player accounts

For the purposes of the definition of player account in section 1.3(1) of the Act, an account is established in accordance with these Regulations if the account is linked to—

(a)a registered player card; or

(b)a casual player card.

7Approved periods

For the purposes of section 3.8A.13C(3) of the Act, the Commission may approve a period in accordance with regulation 8 or 9.

8Approval of scheduled outage

(1)A venue operator may apply to the Commission for approval of a scheduled outage.

(2)An application under subregulation (1) must be made in a form approved by the Commission.

(3)A venue operator's obligations under subregulations (1) and (2) are fulfilled if the monitoring licensee applies to the Commission, in the approved form, on the venue operator's behalf.

(4)On receiving an application under subregulation (1), the Commission may approve a scheduled outage if the following criteria are met—

(a)the outage is required for the maintenance of—

(i)a pre-commitment system; or

(ii)an electronic monitoring system;

(b)the outage is reasonable, having regard to—

(i)the length of time required to complete the required maintenance; and

(ii)the time of day that the required maintenance is proposed to be carried out;

(c)it is not practicable for the required maintenance to be carried out at a time that gaming machines installed in the approved venue of the venue operator are not available for gaming.

Note

Under section 3.5.28A of the Act, a venue operator must not allow a gaming machine that is installed in an approved venue of the venue operator to be played at any time between the hours of 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. Section 3.5.28A does not apply to a venue operator who is a casino operator.

(5)As soon as practicable after determining an application under this regulation, the Commission must—

(a)give the venue operator written notice of its decision; and

(b)if the decision is to approve the scheduled outage, specify—

(i)the period of the outage that is approved; and

(ii)any conditions to which the approval is subject, including the conditions set out in subregulation (6).

(6)It is a condition of any approval under this regulation that—

(a)any gaming machine that is disconnected from a pre-commitment system while maintenance is carried out must be reconnected to that pre-commitment system as soon as possible after the planned maintenance is complete; and

(b)the venue operator must notify the Commission, in a form approved by the Commission, within 30 minutes after the completion of the planned maintenance.

(7)A venue operator's obligations under subregulation (6)(b) are fulfilled if the monitoring licensee notifies the Commission, in the approved form, on the venue operator's behalf.

9Approval of unscheduled outage

(1)The Commission may approve an unscheduled outage of 24 hours or less if the venue operator notifies the Commission, in a form approved by the Commission, of the outage within one hour of it commencing.

(2)The Commission may approve an unscheduled outage of more than 24 hours if the following criteria are met—

(a)either—

(i)it is reasonable to conclude that the outage is not the fault of the venue operator, having regard to any analysis conducted by the venue operator or the monitoring licensee to identify the cause of the outage; or

(ii)the cause of the outage is unknown and more time is needed to identify the cause;

(b)since the outage commenced, the venue operator has taken reasonable steps to identify and rectify the outage;

(c)the venue operator has a plan to rectify the outage.

(3)A venue operator's obligations under subregulations (1) and (2) are fulfilled if the monitoring licensee notifies the Commission, in the approved form, on the venue operator's behalf.

(4)It is a condition of any approval given under subregulation (1) or (2) that—

(a)the venue operator must take all reasonable steps to—

(i)identify the cause of the outage; and

(ii)rectify the outage as soon as possible; and

(b)any gaming machine that is disconnected from a pre-commitment system during the outage must be reconnected to that pre‑commitment system as soon as possible after the outage is rectified; and

(c)the venue operator must notify the Commission, in a form approved by the Commission, within 30 minutes after the outage being rectified.

10Expiry

These Regulations expire on 15 December 2025.

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ENDNOTES

1   General information

See for Victorian Bills, Acts and current Versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.

The Gambling Regulation (Pre-commitment Trial) Regulations 2025, S.R. No. 81/2025 were made on 26 August 2025 by the Lieutenant-Governor as the Governor's deputy, with the advice of the Executive Council, under section 11.2.1 of the Gambling Regulation Act 2003, No. 114/2003 and came into operation on 1 October 2025: regulation 3.

The Gambling Regulation (Pre-commitment Trial) Regulations 2025 will expire on 15 December 2025: see regulation 10.

INTERPRETATION OF LEGISLATION ACT 1984 (ILA)

Style changes

Section 54A of the ILA authorises the making of the style changes set out in Schedule 1 to that Act.

References to ILA s. 39B

Sidenotes which cite ILA s. 39B refer to section 39B of the ILA which provides that where an undivided regulation, rule or clause of a Schedule is amended by the insertion of one or more subregulations, subrules or subclauses the original regulation, rule or clause becomes subregulation, subrule or subclause (1) and is amended by the insertion of the expression "(1)" at the beginning of the original regulation, rule or clause.

Interpretation

As from 1 January 2001, amendments to section 36 of the ILA have the following effects:

•     Headings

All headings included in a Statutory Rule which is made on or after
1 January 2001 form part of that Statutory Rule.  Any heading inserted in a Statutory Rule which was made before 1 January 2001, by a Statutory Rule made on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Statutory Rule.
This includes headings to Parts, Divisions or Subdivisions in a Schedule; Orders; Parts into which an Order is divided; clauses; regulations; rules; items; tables; columns; examples; diagrams; notes or forms. 
See section 36(1A)(2A)(2B).

•     Examples, diagrams or notes

All examples, diagrams or notes included in a Statutory Rule which is made on or after 1 January 2001 form part of that Statutory Rule.  Any examples, diagrams or notes inserted in a Statutory Rule which was made before 1 January 2001, by a Statutory Rule made on or after 1 January 2001, form part of that Statutory Rule.  See section 36(3A).

•     Punctuation

All punctuation included in a Statutory Rule which is made on or after
1 January 2001 forms part of that Statutory Rule.  Any punctuation inserted in a Statutory Rule which was made before 1 January 2001, by a Statutory Rule made on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Statutory Rule.
See section 36(3B).

•     Provision numbers

All provision numbers included in a Statutory Rule form part of that Statutory Rule, whether inserted in the Statutory Rule before, on or after
1 January 2001.  Provision numbers include regulation numbers, rule numbers, subregulation numbers, subrule numbers, paragraphs and subparagraphs.  See section 36(3C).

•     Location of "legislative items"

A "legislative item" is a penalty, an example or a note.  As from 13 October 2004, a legislative item relating to a provision of a Statutory Rule is taken to be at the foot of that provision even if it is preceded or followed by another legislative item that relates to that provision.  For example, if a penalty at the foot of a provision is followed by a note, both of these legislative items will be regarded as being at the foot of that provision.  See section 36B.

•     Other material

Any explanatory memorandum, table of provisions, endnotes, index and other material printed after the Endnotes does not form part of a Statutory Rule.  See section 36(3)(3D)(3E).

2   Table of Amendments

There are no amendments made to the Gambling Regulation (Pre-commitment Trial) Regulations 2025 by statutory rules, subordinate instruments and Acts.

3   Explanatory details

No entries at date of publication.