Victoria’s minister responsible for casinos, gambling, and alcohol regulation, Melissa Horne, has proposed the Gambling Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 to the parliament of the state. If the set of reforms is successful, a restriction will be implemented at most electronic gaming machine venues in Victoria from mid-2024. This would prohibit patrons of hotels and bars from accessing areas with poker machines between 4am and 10am. The law would only permit casinos to allow players to gamble during these hours. The government of Victoria stated that this measure was included in the gambling bill to prevent the common practice of having staggered opening hours. It argued that some venues employ this strategy to encourage customers to move between establishments in a particular area for the purpose of continuous gambling.
