CUTTING RED TAPE FOR TRADE PROMOS & COMMUNITY GAMES

Clubs, charities, churches and other groups that run community lotteries, along with businesses running trade promotions are set to benefit from streamlined regulations being proposed by the NSW Government.

New laws for activities, such as raffles, art unions and club bingo will go before Parliament later this year, following a recent review of the Lotteries and Art Unions Act 1901.

Under the proposed changes, permits will no longer be needed for community gaming activities with prizes less than $30,000 and trade promotions with prizes less than $10,000. That means members promotions like the one above, would no longer need to pay or apply for a permit number.

The proposed changes will cut red tape and make it easier for community organisations to run low-risk gaming activities, such as chocolate wheels, lucky envelopes and charity housie games.

Standards to ensure the integrity and proper conduct of gaming activities will remain, and operators will still need to keep records for compliance.

It’s also proposed that a civil penalties regime will be introduced for minor breaches of the regulations. Serious breaches of the regulations will continue to face criminal prosecution.

Stakeholder feedback confirmed that users found the existing Act confusing. In addition, the Act has failed to keep up with advances in technology and businesses operating across state and territory borders. Therefore, it is proposed the Act and the Regulation be redrafted to reflect modern legislation drafting standards.

The changes follow a review of the Lotteries and Art Unions Act 1901 that found regulations for low-risk activities often put unnecessary administrative burdens on small community organisations.

For more information, download the report here >>

• Lotteries and Art Unions Act review report(PDF, 808KB)