Qld Gambling Legislation
The history of liquor regulation in Queensland began with 4 licensing types created pre-1860. In 1843, the first race meeting was held in Brisbane. Find out more about the milestones of Queensland liquor and gaming regulation by downloading the current statistical report. Queensland’s Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation admitted that loot boxes 'may constitute an interactive game within the definition provided in Queensland’s Interactive Gambling (Player Protection) Act 1998.' Queensland said they are 'currently investigating' whether loot boxes could indeed 'offend any legislation we administer.' Starting a business Running a business Employing people Payroll tax Industries Investing in Queensland All categories Government employees Working in the public service Human resources Finance and procurement Information and communication technology Service delivery and community support Mail, facilities and vehicles All categories. Notwithstanding some federal intervention, gambling is basically governed by state legislation. In particular, horse and greyhound racing in Queensland is covered by the Racing Act 2002 (Qld) (Racing Act). The Racing Act governs the regulation of racing codes by establishing control boards.
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Art unions, raffles, bingo, lucky envelopes, Calcutta sweeps and promotional games (trade promotions or competitions) are regulated under the Charitable and Non-Profit Gaming Act 1999.
Under the Act, these different games are broken into categories, some of which require a licence.
Category 1 games
- Includes raffles (art unions), sweeps, Calcutta sweeps, football doubles, lucky door prizes, bingo
- Gross proceeds are not more than $2,000
- The total value of prizes in any raffle must be at least 20% of the estimated gross proceeds (total ticket sales)
- Can be conducted by a non-profit association and, in limited cases, an individual
- Read the Guide to category 1 games up to $2000 (total ticket sales)
- Does not require a licence
Category 2 games
- Includes raffles, sweeps, Calcutta sweeps, football doubles, lucky door prizes, bingo
- Gross proceeds of all games in a bingo session are more than $2,000 but not more than $20,000
- For other games—the gross proceeds are more than $2,000 but not more than $50,000
- The total value of prizes in any raffle must be at least 20% of the estimated gross proceeds (total ticket sales)
- Can be conducted by an eligible non-profit association
- If a club is an 'eligible association' it can conduct raffles up to $50,000 without any licence, permit or permit number. See section 10 of the Charitable and Non-Profit Gaming Act 1999 for meaning of 'eligible association'
- Read the Guide to category 2 games—Gross proceeds more than $2,000 but not more than $50,000 (total ticket sales)
- Does not require a licence
Category 3 games
- Includes raffles or art unions
- Gross proceeds are more than $50,000
- Can be conducted by an eligible incorporated non-profit association
- A licence number must be printed on all category 3 games where the ticket sales are estimated to exceed $50,000
- The total value of prizes in any raffle must be at least 20% of the estimated gross proceeds (total ticket sales)
- Read the Guide to category 3 games—Gross proceeds more than $50,000 (total ticket sales)
- Requires a category 3 gaming licence
Special category 3 games
- Must be a person intending to conduct a single art union for the welfare or benefit of individuals who need help because of a disaster or a disadvantaged individual
- Gross proceeds are more than $5,000
- Requires a special category 3 gaming licence
Category 4 promotional games (trade promotions)
- These are free entry draws conducted to promote goods or services
- Any person may conduct a promotional game; however, they are normally conducted by businesses to promote the sale of products
- Read the Guide to category 4 promotional games
- Does not require a licence
Bingo centres
- A bingo centre is where 2 or more eligible associations conduct, between them, more than 25 bingo sessions each week
- Requires a bingo centre licence
Lucky envelopes
- Lucky envelopes are a type of pre-determined lottery. They are sold as 'break-open' type tickets where the correct combination of numbers/letters/pictures on the tickets produces a winner
- Lucky envelopes can be conducted by an eligible association
- An eligible association must not sell lucky envelopes unless the envelopes have been printed under a licence
- Requires a lucky envelope printer licence
Tipping competitions
- Can be conducted by an individual or an association
- All proceeds must be returned to the players as prizes
- Does not require a licence
Legislation
Charitable and non-profit gaming operates under the following legislation:
- Charitable and Non-Profit Gaming Rule 2010.
Licence applications and fact sheets
Download licence application forms, fact sheets and other resources related to charitable and non-profit gaming.
Resource manuals
Code of practice
Also consider...
- Check the fees and charges for Queensland gaming licensing.
- Learn more about hosting poker tournaments on licensed premises.
- Learn more about hosting 'funny money' nights on licensed premises.
- Last reviewed: 23 Aug 2018
- Last updated: 17 Dec 2019
General enquiries 13 QGOV (13 74 68)
- Licence and permit enquiries
1300 072 322
OLGRlicensing@justice.qld.gov.au
- Gaming compliance enquiries
- Liquor compliance enquiries
- Media enquiries (07) 3738 8556
When Dave* was going through a breakup and had more time to himself, he downloaded a free mobile game to his phone.
It was called Transformers: Earth Wars.
Dave’s a gamer, but this game felt different: players are encouraged to spend money — real money — on loot boxes inside the game.
Loot boxes are found in all kinds of mobile, PC or console games, and they’ve been around for about a decade. They differ from game to game, but they usually work like this: you buy a virtual box of random items without knowing what’s inside. Here's an example of one in Overwatch.
You could open up the box and get exactly what you wanted, or you could get total crap. It’s chance.
In some games, a loot box will contain purely cosmetic items (like a new hat or costume for your character), and sometimes a loot box will contain items that actually help you advance in the game (like extra lives, or better powers).
Loot boxes in Transformers: Earth Wars are the latter, and Dave got hooked.
'All your spending can be done in your home in your own comfort zone.
'I went through a bad patch last year, and this year with my mother dying of cancer, I had to find an outlet. An outlet I couldn’t afford, but still maintained.
'$15,000+ later I don’t even know how this was all possible. I can look back now and know I gambled, I took the risk, and I ended up losing.
'I wish I could stop people getting into loot box-designed games because they have ruined my life.'
Mike’s story
For Mike*, who also plays Transformers: Earth Wars, loot boxes have become an 'addiction'.
Over the past two years, Mike has spent over $50,000 on loot boxes in Transformers: Earth Wars. Hack has seen Mike’s bank statements to verify this.
'At one stage I was spending close to $500 a week on it. It’s pretty disgusting really, and I’m sort of ashamed of myself to come to terms with how much I’ve spent.
'There were times when I was thinking, do I buy lunch, or do I buy a bundle?
'100 per cent they are gambling, and they should be under some sort of restriction in Australia.'
Regulating loot boxes around the world
Microtransactions — where players spend small amounts of real money inside a video game, including to buy loot boxes — have been around for a while. As early as 2005, Microsoft introduced microtransactions in its Xbox Live Marketplace. At the time, Wiredcalled it the 'online store of the future'.
But mainstream interest in loot boxes has only spiked in the last year or so, while the loot box industry - along with the gaming community’s rejection of it - grows enormously.
Last year, a response from gaming giant EA that defended microtransactions in its Star Wars: Battlefront II game became the most downvoted comment in Reddit history.
Star Wars Battlefront II
And Overwatch, a game with over 35 million players worldwide, sparked the biggest conversation around loot boxes - with its director Jeff Kaplan having to insist that Overwatch’s loot boxes were not 'really evil'.
After media interest around loot boxes in Star Wars: Battlefront II took off, lawmakers around the world jumped on it.
In Hawaii, Senator Chris Lee called for loot boxes to be banned, saying Star Wars: Battlefront II was a 'Star Wars-themed online casino, designed to lure kids into spending money'.
Senator Lee introduced legislation in Hawaii that targets loot boxes this month. The bills propose that games containing loot boxes be prohibited for users under 21, and for games that contain loot boxes to be labelled with this warning that says that game contains 'gambling-like mechanisms which may be harmful or addictive'.
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A democratic bill to regulate loot boxes has also been introduced into Washington State, and New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan has called for US government oversight on loot boxes.
Chris Hansford, the director of Consumers for Digital Fairness, a not-for-profit advocacy group lobbying governments in the US to regulate loot boxes, hopes Hawaii and Washington are the first of many states to follow.
'We do feel that loot boxes, when they are purchased for real funds, cash, are a form of gambling and that does deeply concern us,' Chris told Hack.
'They’ve started to push tactics that we feel have been ripped right off of the casino floor, and shoving them into our living rooms and into the hands of children and young adults that really aren’t equipped to handle those kind of things.'
Meanwhile in Europe, Belgium’s justice minister called for loot boxes to be banned across the continent.
But in New Zealand, its department of Gambling Compliance last year said loot boxes did not meet the legal definition of gambling.
The situation in Australia
In Australia, gambling is regulated by each state and territory. Hack asked each state and territory’s gambling authority about their position on loot boxes.
Qld Gambling Legislation Meaning
Every jurisdiction told us they were aware of loot boxes as an issue, but none have made a formal determination about whether or not loot boxes should be considered gambling.
Queensland’s Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation admitted that loot boxes 'may constitute an interactive game within the definition provided in Queensland’s Interactive Gambling (Player Protection) Act 1998.'
Queensland said they are 'currently investigating' whether loot boxes could indeed 'offend any legislation we administer.'
Qld Gambling Legislation Definition
Similarly, New South Wales said they were 'actively looking' into the issue of loot boxes.
As far as Federal politics goes, 23-year-old Greens Senator Jordon Steele John says action needs to be taken on loot boxes, which he believes are a 'gambling' product.
'The Australian gaming industry hates these things, they’re a scourge.
'They require no creativity. I have a lot of concern about them at the end of the day because we are very clear — as a party and generally as a society — gambling is not a good thing, poker machines are not a good thing.'
Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John addresses the media
'Mixing kids and applications which utilise gambling techniques are really quite a concerning thing.'
Senator Steele John told Hack he is currently consulting with stakeholders in the gaming industry about the issue.
'The impact of gambling in people’s lives is such that we actually can’t afford to stay silent.
'If it does seem that legislation is something that needs to happen, we’ll certainly look at it. I think any legislation would have to be innovative and not necessarily blunt.'
Senator Steele John said the government was often slow to move around issues involving the gaming industry.
'I’m not surprised we’ve had silence on this issue. I think a lot of my colleagues haven’t quite yet got past Pacman.'
Gamers in support of ‘purely cosmetic’ microtransactions
Hack has heard from Australian gamers who are emphatically against loot boxes. But we’ve also heard from gamers who think the issue has been overstated.
23-year-old Xavier from Canberra, who plays Clash Royale and Overwatch, told Hack that he doesn’t think regulation is the way to go for loot boxes in Australia - even though he’s spent about $1200 of his own money on them.
'I had the money at the time, I didn’t suffer because I lost any of that money, I worked hard for that money and I spent my money where I wanted to.
'I was very consciously going, ‘Ok are you happy to do this, is this game insanely fun?’ [and I would go] ‘Yes it is, okay’.'
Xavier doesn’t support calls for regulation in Australia.
'I can see it becoming an issue for a lot of people but by the same token, I think that it shouldn’t be regulated. That’s the ultimate question, as a law student I’d say - is it supposed to be regulated? I’d say, definitely not.
'I find it hard to imagine people getting addicted to this to the point of problem gambling, to the equivalent of the pokies or the races. I struggle personally to see it like that.
Qld Gambling Legislation Rules
In a report by Qutee released this month, a survey of over 1000 gamers revealed that 69 per cent supported microstransactions - but only if they were for purely cosmetic items, not items that advance gameplay. Only 6 per cent of respondents said they 'never' buy loot boxes.
*Names have been changed.