Tabcorp Holdings poker machines have been discovered violating the Fair Trading Act, by Action Against Gaming Machines (AAGM). Therefore CAV have warned them strongly and expects them to meet the terms of the Act.
CAV states that Tabcorp has violating the Act because they do not provide players with a receipt when they purchase machine credits. They also remind how Australian operators are being prosecuted for the same reason.
Tabcorp has been violating section 161 of the Fair Trading Act, according to CAV investigations. This section says that any client of any product spending more than 50 dollars has the right to receive a receipt of his purchase. Even consumers that spend a smaller amount of money have the right to receive a receipt if they ask for it.
Although CAV understands the logistical problems for companies such as Tabcorp in confectioning receipts for machines, they state that it is the law and everyone has to act in accordance with it. Further on, the leader of AAGM, Lana O Shanassy, states that taking into account the benefits of gaming machine companies and their expenses on marketing issues, they have to comply the law like any other company in Australia. They cannot be an exception, because they are as bound by Consumer Protection Laws like any other kind of business.
When asked about the measures they are going to take, Ms O Shanassy says that, due to the difficulties of the government in clarifying the income of gaming machines players and therefore deciding benefit entitlements, they are going to urge authorities of the country to prosecute gaming machines companies, such as Tabcorp, that breach the Law. Likewise, they warn operators about the fact that they will be investigated by court.
There is yet another issue which is being discussed in the country which affects the return money players receive when they play gaming machines. A change has been proposed in order to return players a programmed percentage of money instead of the return they are getting now, which does not meet the minimum required by the Law.
