Gaming Machine Act 1991

Hotels and clubs with gaming machines are the primary regulated parties. They hold gaming machine licences, pay gaming machine tax, and must comply with ongoing operational conditions.

Monitoring operators, dealers, testing facility operators, repairers, and service contractors must all hold specific licences to participate in the gaming machine supply and service chain.

Individual employees in key roles, including key monitoring employees and gaming nominees, are subject to individual licensing requirements. Licensees, gaming employees, and repairers are prohibited from playing machines at their own licensed premises (section 338).

Gaming machine manufacturers and suppliers are licensed under Part 4 as dealers and must comply with product approval and supply requirements.

Regulators: The Commissioner for Liquor and Gaming is the central regulatory authority. Inspectors appointed under section 325A enforce the Act.

Community: The significant community impact regime (section 55A) and the gambling community benefit fund (section 315) reflect the Act's recognition that gaming has broader community impacts beyond commercial operations.

Section 55: Gaming is lawful only on licensed premises. A licensee must not allow gaming on unlicensed premises or outside approved hours.

Section 102: Where a gaming machine licence is issued but not in force (for example, following suspension), the licensee must not play or permit play of gaming machines. Maximum penalty: 1,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment.

Section 225: Licensees must install authorised gaming machines in designated gaming machine areas. Machines not installed must be stored on premises approved by the Commissioner and secured as required. Machines must not be stored for more than 2 months without the Commissioner's written approval. Maximum penalty: 200 penalty units.

Section 265: No person may manufacture, sell, supply, obtain, or possess a gaming machine except under a licence or authorisation. Maximum penalty: 1,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment. Restricted components carry a maximum penalty of 400 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment.

Section 295: Monthly money clearances of gaming machines, any centralised credit system, and any TITO system are required. These must be done after the end of each month's gaming and before the start of the next. Maximum penalty for failure: 200 penalty units.

Section 312: Licensees must pay monthly gaming machine tax on or before the prescribed day of the following month. The amount is a prescribed percentage of the monthly taxable metered win for each premises.

Section 264AA: Licensees and licensed suppliers prescribed under regulations must implement prescribed harm minimisation measures. Maximum penalty: 200 penalty units.

Section 338: Licensed repairers, licensees, and gaming employees must not play gaming machines at the premises where they work, except as necessary for carrying out their duties. A 30-day post-employment restriction applies. Maximum penalty: 200 penalty units (licensees and gaming employees) and 40 penalty units (key monitoring employees).

Commissioner's general powers: The Commissioner may grant or refuse gaming machine licences "having regard to the information or material the commissioner considers relevant," including information about social and community issues and relevant guidelines (section 55). This gives the Commissioner broad discretion in licensing decisions.

Guidelines and standards (sections 18-19): The Commissioner may make guidelines and standards about any matter relating to gaming, gaming machines, or the conduct of gaming. Guidelines about operating authorities must be publicly available.

Significant community impact procedures (section 55A): The Commissioner must publish and make available a list of all current significant community impact applications. This transparency obligation is not discretionary.

Suspension and cancellation (ss 97-108): The Commissioner may suspend or cancel gaming machine licences for breaches of conditions. For category 2 licensees, the Commissioner may instead appoint an administrator to control the licensee's affairs (section 106). An administrator has all powers of the licensee's secretary and executive officers.

Investigation and enforcement (Part 10): Inspectors appointed under section 325A have powers to enter and inspect licensed premises, audit records, require production of documents, and seize evidence. The Commissioner decides who is sufficiently qualified and suitable to be appointed inspector.

Harm minimisation (section 264AA): The Minister may recommend regulations prescribing harm minimisation measures where satisfied the measure is necessary and appropriate to minimise harm and is consistent with the Act's objects, or where it is in the public interest. Regulations may specify which licensees and suppliers must implement a measure.

The Act's penalties reflect the commercial significance and regulatory risk of gaming machine operations:

Highest penalties:

• Unlicensed possession or dealing in gaming machines (section 265): 1,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment.
• Playing or permitting play while licence not in force (section 102): 1,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment.
• Restricted components offences: 400 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment.

Operational penalties (200 penalty units): Failure to comply with installation, storage, money clearance, accounting, and harm minimisation requirements.

Lighter penalties (40 penalty units): Key monitoring employee playing machine offences.

The Commissioner's enforcement arsenal also includes suspension, cancellation of licences, and appointment of administrators. The gaming machine tax regime itself is self-executing: assessments by the Commissioner are taken to be the taxable metered win unless contested.

Licence applications: Applications of significant community impact must be publicly notified by the Commissioner before being decided. Applicants must include information about responsible gambling initiatives.

Approved hours and machine numbers: Changes to approved hours or approved numbers require separate applications. An increase in approved hours counts as an increase even if aggregate hours are reduced, where the effect is to allow gaming at previously prohibited times (section 85A).

Gaming machine tax: Assessed monthly. Tax payable on or before the prescribed day in the following month (section 312(2)).

Money clearances: Monthly, after the end of gaming on the last day of each month and before the start of gaming on the first day of the next month (section 295(1)).

Storage limit: Gaming machines stored off-premises require Commissioner's written approval after 2 months (section 225(3)).

COVID-19 provisions: Part 11A (gaming tax relief under COVID-19 legislation) expired on the COVID-19 legislation expiry day (section 491). All substantive COVID gaming tax provisions are now spent.

Liquor Act 1992 (Qld): Category 1 licensed premises are hotel premises and will generally also hold liquor licences. The Commissioner for Liquor and Gaming administers both Acts. Suitability assessments under this Act have parallels with the liquor licensing regime.

Corporations Act 2001 (Cth): Sections 106-108 (appointment of administrator) expressly apply despite the Corporations Act. This prevents Corporations Act corporate governance provisions from overriding the Commissioner's power to take control of a licensee's affairs.

Acts Interpretation Act 1954 (Qld): Referenced in transitional provisions (section 491) to deal with the legal effect of gaming tax notices that expired under the COVID-19 response. Section 20A of the Acts Interpretation Act preserves rights and obligations accrued before repeal.

Criminal Code (Qld): The Act incorporates Criminal Code amendments for consent and mistake of fact in relation to some offences, reflected in the 2021 transitional provision (section 492).

Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cth): The Commonwealth's online gambling regime operates separately; this Act governs land-based gaming machines in Queensland.

The Act has a dual-category structure with different entitlement regimes. Category 1 (hotel) gaming rights flow through operating authorities that can be bought and sold. Category 2 (club) gaming rights flow through entitlements that can be transferred. A person advising a hotel client on gaming machine expansion must navigate operating authority availability, not just the Commissioner's discretion.

Increasing approved hours requires a new application even if aggregate hours decrease. Section 85A deems any change that allows gaming at previously prohibited times to be an "increase" for application purposes. A licensee that restructures their gaming hours to cover a different time window must apply, even if total hours are unchanged or reduced.

Significant community impact applications are publicly listed. Competitors and community groups can identify and respond to applications. There is no private or confidential lodgement pathway for these applications.

The Commissioner's broad informational discretion in licensing is unconstrained by a prescriptive criteria list. Section 55(1)(a) allows the Commissioner to have regard to "any information or material the commissioner considers relevant," including social and community issues. This gives significant flexibility but also means decisions may be challenged on natural justice grounds if relevant adverse material is not disclosed to applicants.

Gaming employees and licensees cannot play machines for 30 days after leaving. The post-employment restriction in section 338 means former gaming employees must wait 30 days before lawfully playing machines at their previous workplace.

Machines cannot be stored unlicensed for more than 2 months. A licensee who closes premises must arrange Commissioner-approved storage within 2 months or face a penalty.

Example 1: Club applying for more gaming machines. A Brisbane club holds a category 2 gaming machine licence for 25 machines and applies to increase to 35. This is likely an application of significant community impact if the increase exceeds the threshold prescribed by regulation. The Commissioner must publish the application on the department's website, and the club must include a statement of responsible gambling initiatives in its application.

Example 2: Hotel acquiring an operating authority. A hotel in regional Queensland wants to start operating gaming machines. It must first acquire an operating authority, as the total number in Queensland is capped. If an authority is available for purchase, the hotel also needs a gaming machine licence. The Commissioner considers the application having regard to social and community issues.

Example 3: Unlicensed technician. A person services gaming machines at multiple clubs without holding a service contractor's licence. They are exposed to a penalty under section 265 of up to 1,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment, as they are in possession of gaming machines (or restricted components) without authority.

Example 4: Monthly tax. A licensed club has gaming machines that return a monthly taxable metered win of $200,000 for November. The Commissioner assesses this amount from monitoring data. The club must pay gaming machine tax on the prescribed day in December, calculated at the prescribed percentage rate for category 2 premises.

Example 5: Suspended licence. A hotel's gaming machine licence is suspended following a compliance breach. While the suspension is in force, the hotel must not permit anyone to play the gaming machines. Playing or permitting play during suspension carries a maximum penalty of 1,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment under section 102.