Gambling
Rules
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Plussed.net
Gambling
Rules
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Ideally, the analysis of a gambling scheme should commence with an examination of the rules in the relevant legislative instrument. Most such instruments refer to these schemes as “games”.
The following table provides links to the relevant legislation. The skull and cross bones icons (though they may just turn out as bland question marks if you don't have an appropriate unicode font installed) indicate that a particular scheme is a legal method of throwing your money away in casinos in a particular state or territory. These icons are links to the relevant legislative instrument. Queensland places the rules for all its casino schemes in a single document, so all the Queensland links point to the same location.
So far the table lists only two schemes. More will be added when time permits.
| ACT | NSW | QLD | SA | Tas | Vic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roulette | ☠ | ☠ | ☠ | ☠ | ☠ | ☠ ☠ |
| Sic Bo (“Big and Small” in SA) | ☠ | ☠ | ☠ | ☠ | ☠ ☠ |
Section 5 of the Gambling and Racing Control Act 1999 establishes The ACT Gambling and Racing Commission, referred to in the act as the commission.
However it is sections 95 and 96 of the Casino Control Act 2006 which give the commission the power to approve rules for casino games. Any such approvals are notifiable instruments. Thus the rules for approved games can be found from the page listing of notifiable instruments under the Act.
The relevant Act is the Casino Control Act 1992 No 15. Casino is singular, since the Act only allows one. Section 66 of the Act states “(1) The Authority may, by order published in the Gazette, approve the games that may be played in a casino and the rules for those games.” While section 66 of the online version of the Act does helpfully supply a list of all such orders, the relevant sections of the Gazette do not seem to be easily accessible online.
The “Authority” is defined in section 3 to be the New South Wales Casino Control Authority, a body created by section 133 of the Act. Their web site contains the Official Rules Of NSW Casino Games.
Section 26 of the
Gaming Control Act states:
"(1) The Minister may approve a game, the organising or playing of which
is unlawful, as a game that may be played in a casino.
(2) The Director may approve the rules and procedures of an approved
game and the equipment that may be used in playing an approved game
and may give directions and issue guidelines as to the operation and
playing of an approved game. "
Section 3 clarifies that the Director is the Director of Licensing appointed under section 22(1) of the Northern Territory Licensing Commission Act", (but does not clarify which Minister is intended).
Here the trail ended. The Act doesn't clarify how the Director documents approved rules and the Commission does not seem to provide this data on a web site. Not even the casino concerned provides the rules of their games on their web sites, but then they hardly have a vested interest in helping potential customers to find the rules before attending the casino.
The Department of Justice maintains a Gaming page with some background information. I'm not linking to their Casino page since it reads more like an advertisment by the casinos than an information page of the regulatory authority.
At this point in time, Gambling.plussed does not include any analysis of Northern Territory casino games.
section 63 of the
Casino Control Act 1982
states:
“(1) The Minister may make rules for the playing of games in casinos.
...
(3) The rules are subordinate legislation.
...
(9) The casino operator must ensure that each game conducted in
the casino is conducted under the rules made under subsection
(1) for the game.”
The relevant subordinate legislation is the Casino Gaming Rule 1999. Each schedule of this Rule specifies rules of a game. It is extremely helpful to have the rules for every single approved game available in a single document. It is a pity that more states do not follow Queensland's approach.
The relevant act is the Casino Act 1997. Casino is singular since Section 7 limits the number of casinos to one.
Section 37A states
“(1) In determining an application for authorisation of a game to be
played in the casino, the Commissioner must have regard to any
guidelines issued by the Authority to the Commissioner for the purpose
of assessing whether a game is likely to lead to an exacerbation of
problem gambling.
(2) If the Commissioner is of the opinion that the game the subject
of the application is likely to lead to an exacerbation of problem
gambling, the Commissioner must refuse to authorise the game.”
I wonder how the Commissioner could approve any games under this clause.
Section 3 clarifies that:
“Authority means the Independent Gambling Authority established
under the Independent Gambling Authority Act 1995;
...
Commissioner means the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner”.
The Rules of the Approved Games are available on the web site of the Office of the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner.
Tasmanian legislation is available at Tasmania’s consolidated legislation online. The History view feature on this site is a particularly clever innovation.
The relevant piece of legislation is the Gaming Control Act 1993.
So, to locate the official rules, go to the Gaming Rules & Standards Page on the Tasmanian Gaming Commission Web Site and follow the link labelled “Official Rules of the Casino Games”. (I'm not providing a direct link to that last item since it seems to move frequently.)
Hence, the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation defines the rules for approved games by issuing notices under Section 60 of the above Act.
The VCGR web site contains a list of “Public Decisions” on their web site. Unfortunately, these decisions only state that rules have been approved, without stating the rules. (They seem to use a Content Management System that frequently changes addresses, so I can't link directly to the Public Decisions. From their home page, in the left navigation bar, choose Committee Meetings, then Public Meetings.)
Notices under Section 60 are published in the Victorian Government Gazette. Using the search facility to search for a game by name, restricting the search to items relating to the Casino Control Act 1991, will usually locate the approved rules. However, they may be embedded in a very large pdf file containing all sorts of unrelated material of the type that much be published in the Gazette.
The above is fine once you know which games to search for in the Gazette. Unfortunately, it seems the only easy way to determine which games are available at the casino in Victoria is to visit the casino web site.
A good starting point is the Gambling page of the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor web site. This contains a well-written summary of the history of gambling in WA which includes the memorable quote:
“We do not feel that we should recommend the legalisation of poker machines in Western Australia. From our observations we formed the opinion that poker machine playing is a mindless, repetitive and insidious form of gambling which has many undesirable features. It requires no thought, no skill or social contact. The odds are never about winning. Watching people playing the machines over long periods of time, the impressionistic evidence at least is that they are addictive to many people. Historically poker machines have been banned from Western Australia and we consider that, in the public interest, they should stay banned” (page 72 - Report of the Royal Commission into Gambling 1974).
So, while the authorisation of a game is noted in the Gazette, the approved rules of the game are not.
So, we have the odd situation where the Commission which is supposed to protect casino consumers is not required to publish the rules of the approved casino games, but instead requires the Casino to publish them. But the casino doesn't have the rules on their web site, so it seems consumers need to visit or contact the Casino to get the rules. Hardly seems satisfactory.
At this point in time, Gambling.plussed does not include any analysis of Western Australian casino games.
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Last modified: 30 Aug 2009
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