Who is required to keep a gambling incident register?
From 1 July 2024, all hotels and registered clubs with Gaming Machine Entitlements or Permits will be required to keep a Gambling Incident Register and record all gambling incidents.
If your venue holds Gaming Machine Entitlements or Permits but does not operate any gaming machines at any time, you do not need to keep a Gambling Incident Register.
This exemption ends whenever 1 or more gaming machines are operating at your venue.
Benefits of a gambling incident register
Maintaining a gambling incident register will give you a better understanding of how gambling harm is affecting your patrons.
It will help you to understand trends at your venue over a long period of time. This information will help you to develop appropriate strategies to reduce gambling harm at your licensed premises.
Keeping a gambling incident register
You can either:
- have one register which is both your gambling incident register and liquor incident register, or
- keep a separate gambling incident register and liquor incident register.
The format of your gambling incident register must be in is detailed further below.
Maintaining a gambling incident register
Key points:
- Keep it up to date: Make sure incidents are recorded as soon as possible. Set up clear procedures so this always happens.
- Who can update it? You can ask staff to help with this. If your venue has a Responsible Gambling Officer, it’s part of their job to record incidents.
- How long to keep records? You must keep all entries for at least 3 years.
- Who’s responsible? Hotel licensees and registered clubs are responsible for making sure the register is maintained and kept properly. You can delegate this responsibility to managers or other key staff at your licensed premises. However it is a legal obligation for the licensee or approved manager to maintain the register.
- Monthly reviews: The register must be reviewed at least once a month. The person reviewing it should look for patterns or trends in gambling harm and think about ways to reduce it.
What do I record in my gambling incident register?
Here are incidents that must be recorded:
- Where a gaming patron displays or engages in behaviour that indicates they are at risk of or they are experiencing gambling harm.
- Any requests for self-exclusion, information about self-exclusion or requests for intervention by a patron.
- Any requests for information about exclusion or a request for the venue to intervene, made by a family member of a patron (however no personal details of family members are allowed to be recorded).
- Any breach or attempted breach of a self-exclusion arrangement.
- Any gaming offence, alleged offence or incident involving a minor.
After you have recorded the incident, you must include the action you have taken in response to the incident. Gambling incidents must be recorded as soon as practicable, but no later than 24 hours after they happen.
You may choose to record other incidents in the gambling incident register, such as machine faults or complaints as well.
What is behaviour that indicates gambling harm?
There are often warning signs that may suggest a patron is at risk of gambling harm, or they are experiencing gambling harm.
You must record any patron behaviour that is a warning sign of at-risk gambling behaviour, which is described in ‘Signs of risky and problem gambling behaviour: Know the signs and how to act’. You may want to print this off and display it in your venue.
This table has been replicated in Appendix 3 of the Advanced Responsible Conduct of Gambling workbook.
When reviewing the gambling incident register, you should look for repeated behaviour or warning signs of gambling harm in patrons over time. This will help you consider implementing different interventions for those patrons.
Format of the gambling incident register
- the register bound book (green book)
- a digital register.
Note
- Make sure the digital register form and manner of reporting is consistent with the requirements listed in the Digital Incident Register Guidelines.
- You may choose to keep your venue’s gambling and liquor incident registers together, provided that each gambling incident is clearly marked as such.
- If you plan to use the Liquor & Gaming NSW (L&GNSW) bound book, keeping your venue’s gambling and liquor incident registers separately may save time for your staff when they review the incident records or make it easier to locate closer to gaming machines.
Where can I purchase an incident bound book?
Incident bound books can be ordered by visiting the NSW Government's online shop. Discounts are available for bulk orders of 20 or more.
Who can view a gambling incident register?
Our inspectors or NSW Police can review gambling incident registers when they audit a licensed premises. They may ask to inspect or take copies of your gambling incident register.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Gambling incident register examples
It is considered best practice to avoid using acronyms without further description. Incidents must be recorded as soon as practicable, but within 24 hours after the incident. Remember to always record the details of any action taken in response to an incident.
Below are examples of a completed incident report. You can utilise the extra lines provided on the back of the page if needed.
The bottom section must be completed for all incidents and includes police notification section if applicable.
Can I keep my liquor and gambling incident registers together?
Yes.
However, if you keep the L&GNSW bound book, it may be easier for you to keep them separate so the gambling incident register can be located near gaming machines and reviewed.
Keeping separate liquor and gambling incident registers may also make it easier to conduct your monthly review of the gambling incident register.
Do I need to use the new L&GNSW bound book or can I use an old one?
You can use your current bound book until 31 December 2024.
From 1 January 2025 all venues must use the new incident register formats released by L&GNSW in May 2024.
Can I keep my gambling incident register in a digital form?
Yes, provided the form and manner of reporting is consistent with the requirements published on the L&GNSW website and in the guidelines. The current requirements for digital registers can be found in the Digital Incident Register Guidelines.
Who needs to make records in the register?
All staff with gaming responsibilities must record gambling incidents in the gambling incident register.
If your venue has a Responsible Gambling Officer, recording gambling incidents in the gambling incident register is one of their key duties.
Hotel licensees and registered clubs are responsible for ensuring the gambling incident register is maintained and that it is reviewed at least once a month. The review should be undertaken by a suitably senior manager or employee.
How do I use the incident register to record gambling incidents?
When using the L&GNSW bound book to record a gambling incident, you must tick the ‘Gaming’ checkbox and fill in the relevant details about the incident. When recording the details, indicate what type of gambling incident it is, for example ‘at-risk gambling behaviour’, ‘self-exclusion request’, ‘family exclusion request’ or ‘gambling incident involving minor’.
If another staff member has witnessed the same incident and has already recorded it, the record does not need to be duplicated.
How quickly do I need to make records of gambling incidents?
Gambling incidents must be recorded as soon as practicable, but no later than 24 hours after they happen.
I have a licence condition that requires a Gambling/Gaming Incident Register. What do I need to comply with?
From 1 July 2024, the requirements in the Gaming Machines Regulation 2019 override gaming related licence conditions dealing with Gambling/Gaming Incident Registers. This means you must comply with the requirements in the Regulation.
What is considered a ‘proper break’ in the context of a long period (3 hours or more) of continuous gambling?
Gambling for long periods of time (3 hours or more) without a proper break is identified as a ‘Probable’ warning sign of at-risk gambling behaviour in the Advanced Conduct of Responsible Gambling (ACRG) Course.
Responsible Gambling Officers and Approved Managers should record their observation of this behaviour in the Gambling Incident Register and proactively check in with the patron gambling.
The length of a “proper break” is not prescribed in regulations. The intention of a “proper break” is for a patron to step away from their gaming machine activity, so that after the break in play, they are better able to decide whether or not they wish to continue gambling.
Longer breaks are generally considered more effective to reduce the risk of harm, but a “proper break” could be the time it takes for the patron to fully exit the gaming area for a toilet break and to have a drink or snack, have a conversation with someone in a non-gaming area of the venue, or get some fresh air outside the premises.
The patron’s behaviour should always be considered in the context of other possible warning signs and the level of risk that is indicated by the combination of signs present.
Contact us at Liquor & Gaming NSW
We welcome your feedback, enquiries and complaints about us or a licensed business.
Phone: 1300 024 720 Monday to Friday 9am - 4pm
Email: contact.us@liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au
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Our website: www.nsw.gov.au/liquorandgaming