Responsible Conduct of Gambling Requirements
The RCG obligations in practice
The RCG framework imposes positive duties on venues, not merely prohibitions. Key obligations include: displaying required signage (including problem gambling help information and the odds of winning), providing a gambling contact officer, maintaining a self-exclusion scheme, offering a Gambling Harm Minimisation Code of Practice, ensuring staff are trained, and keeping an incident register. Venues must also comply with advertising and inducement restrictions, restrictions on credit and cash advances, and the prohibition on accepting bets from intoxicated or excluded patrons.
The RCG Code of Practice requires venues to have a documented harm minimisation policy, to make responsible gambling information available, and to ensure staff can recognise and respond to patrons at risk. The Gambling Contact Officer is the nominated person responsible for RCG matters at the venue; questions often test whether this role is mandatory (it is) and what it involves.
Traps to watch
A frequent trap is confusing "self-exclusion" with "venue-initiated exclusion" - the former is voluntary and patron-driven, the latter is imposed by the venue. Another is assuming a patron can be served alcohol while gambling (they cannot be served to intoxication, and service must be refused to intoxicated patrons). Questions also test the rule that credit cannot be extended for gambling, and that inducements to gamble are restricted. Watch for the distinction between the Code of Practice and the Act: the Code sets out how obligations are met, not the obligations themselves.
Rule of thumb
When a scenario describes a patron behaviour, ask: is this a signage duty, a staff-response duty, or an exclusion duty? Match the response to the correct obligation rather than defaulting to exclusion.