The pubs’ lawyers also argued that in this matter, “questions of the possible or likely impacts on the local community are irrelevant”. The judge accepted the argument by lawyers representing the pubs that ILGA exceeded its power in imposing the harm minimisation methods, because the authority used its powers under a provision of the Liquor Act, which they said did not relate to gaming. In the same judgement, Justice McNaughton ruled in favour of two other establishments also owned by publican Jim Knox that also sought to increase their poker machine entitlements – Griffith’s Gemini Hotel and Armidale’s Whitebull Hotel – who objected to having similar harm reduction measures imposed on them. The Area Hotel objected to having this condition imposed on them, so took the matter to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the Griffith pub in June 2023. READ ALSO Supreme Court case into multi-million-dollar collapse of Griffith winery could be dismissed

This staff member would have duties such as identifying “players who display problematic gambling behaviour” and providing information about problem gambling counselling.

The ILGA approved their application on the condition that a dedicated staff member at the Griffith venue monitored the gaming machines whenever they operated. The Area Hotel had applied to the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) to increase its poker machine threshold from 23 to 30 and to lease seven pokie entitlements from the nearby Griffith Hotel in April 2021.

The decision comes as new data indicates residents in Griffith and surrounds lost more than $18 million on pokies in the first six months of 2023. The state’s gambling regulator has won an appeal against a NSW Supreme Court decision that would have allowed Griffith’s Area Hotel to install seven more poker machines at its venue without having to employ certain harm reduction measures.

Griffith’s Area Hotel has tried to increase its poker machine entitlement.

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