What you must have
To legally operate gaming machines you must satisfy the following criteria:
- Hold a club licence or a hotel licence
- For clubs - ensure you have a Gaming Machine Entitlement (GME) for each gaming machine you operate
- For hotels - ensure you have a Gaming Machine Entitlement (GME) or a poker machine permit (PMP) for each gaming machine you operate.
Note. If you would like to increase the number of gaming machines you operate, you will need to apply to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority ILGA to increase the Gaming Machine Threshold (GMT) approved for your venue and acquire additional GMEs or PMPs.
For more about GME, PMP and GMT see guidelines 11 and 12.
After you're licensed
Once you have the required licence, GMT and GMEs/PMPs you will need to:
- buy a gaming machine from a licensed dealer or seller, or from another hotel or club
- contact Data Monitoring Systems (DMS) (PDF 162.27KB) to arrange for the CMS equipment to be installed at your venue
- provide direct debit details to Revenue Assurance & Probity Unit - via assurance.probity@liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au
- apply through Quickchange for authorisation to keep and operate the machine
- connect the gaming machine to the Centralised Monitoring System (CMS).
Be aware that:
- Only clubs are permitted to operate multi-terminal gaming machines (MTGMs)
- Hotels with more than 10 gaming machines must have a Hotel Gaming Room.
Follow the financial arrangements
If you buy gaming machines:
- payment must be in full and made within 90 days of the delivery date
- trade-ins are allowed as part of the purchase price
- payment can be in cash or a combination of cash and trade-in.
You can defer the 90-day payment however you must have a financial agreement approved by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority Board (ILGA) already in place.
Your application for approval of a financial arrangement should be in the form of a letter detailing how the proposed arrangements meet the guidelines and clause 9 of the Gaming Machines Regulation 2019. The application must include a copy of the proposed financial arrangement.
Read: Financial arrangements for the acquisition of gaming machines (PDF 50.74KB)
Authorisation to keep or dispose of a gaming machine
To install a new gaming machine, change your existing gaming machine, or to dispose of a gaming machine in your venue, you must apply for authorisation from the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA). These authorisations are through the Quickchange system, managed by MAX.
Fees apply for each change made on the Quickchange system.
Learn more about disposing of a gaming machine.
Fees
Example of how Quickchange fees work:
- authorising one new device counts as one change
- de-authorising a device and replacing it with a new device counts as two changes
- authorising one device and attaching it to a progressive jackpot controller counts as two changes.
Fees are direct debited a month after approval, from the account nominated for payment of your gaming machine tax.