Exclusion compliance for gambling providers

Under gambling laws, gambling providers (except lotteries, bingo, charities and not-for-profits) must take reasonable steps to identify and prevent excluded patrons from entering or remaining in their premises or gaming machine areas.

You are required to:

• document your exclusion procedures
• ensure your staff are trained in recognising the signs of gambling-related harm and responding appropriately with advice and assistance
• escort patrons who breach their exclusions out of the premises in a sensitive and orderly way.

To understand what you must do:

• read the resource manual relevant to your industry
• read the code of practice
• familiarise yourself with exclusion forms and reporting tools.

Gambling providers (except casinos) should also read Guideline 16—Preventing excluded persons entering or remaining on licensed premises , which outlines the intervention measures and reasonable steps the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR) expects you to take.

After reading the guideline, use the managing gambling exclusions checklist to assess whether you and your staff are taking reasonable steps.

What to do if a patron breaches an exclusion

You have a legal requirement to report to OLGR within 7 days any patron who breaches their exclusion. To do this, complete and submit the Notice of contravention of self-exclusion order/exclusion direction form (form 3H).

Gambling providers (except casinos) who haven't identified the excluded patron within 30 minutes must also submit the Managing gambling exclusions checklist unless you've already submitted it in the last 12 months. Choose either the checklist attached to form 3H or the online checklist.

You can lodge the form and checklist:

• by email to gamingcompliance@justice.qld.gov.au
• in person at an OLGR office
• by post to
  • Gaming Compliance
    Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation
    Locked Bag 180
    CITY EAST  QLD  4002.

If you've taken reasonable steps and identified an excluded patron within 30 minutes you won't need to submit the exclusions checklist. This supports gambling providers who implement effective measures and meet or exceed their legal obligations to manage exclusions.

OLGR may investigate breaches and examine the contributing factors.

How to meet your reporting requirements

You must keep up-to-date registers of excluded patrons as well as regularly report them to us. To meet your reporting requirements, complete the:

• register of excluded persons (form 3G)—keep it onsite and make it available for inspection by an OLGR officer
• report on excluded persons (form 3R)—submit it to us every 6 months (within 14 days of the end of June and December each year).

Tips for complying with exclusion laws

• Don't send promotional or advertising material about the venue to excluded patrons (fines may apply)—remove them from your mailing lists and social media accounts.
• Ensure card-based gaming and player loyalty accounts are partially or fully disabled or cancelled when an exclusion takes effect. Make sure the patron doesn't reactivate their card or open a new account during their exclusion period.
• Ensure staff regularly view photos of excluded patrons and scan CCTV for them—consider using facial recognition technology.
• Ensure staff don't pay out jackpots and cancelled credits to excluded patrons—complete a payout refusal report (form 30) and submit it to us as soon as possible.

Also consider...

• Download compliance signage and other materials for gambling providers.
• Learn about processing remote gambling exclusions.
• Read more about compliance for gaming machine licensees.