New South Wales Consolidated Acts

GAMING MACHINES ACT 2001 - SECT 27

27 Hardship applications by hoteliers and prospective hoteliers

(1) A hotelier who, as at 19 April 2001, was authorised under the Liquor Act 1982 to keep 15 or more approved poker machines is not entitled to make a hardship application.

(2) A hotelier may make a hardship application if:

(a) the hotelier:

(i) made an application to the Board under the Liquor Act 1982 , on or before 19 April 2001, to keep an additional number of approved gaming machines and the application was not dealt with by the Board as at the commencement of this section, or

(ii) made such an application between 1 March 2001 and 19 April 2001 and the application was refused by the Board, or

(b) the hotelier:

(i) obtained, on or before 19 April 2001, a conditional grant under the Liquor Act 1982 for a new or removed hotelier’s licence, but which was not finally granted by that date, or

(ii) obtained, after that date, a conditional grant under the Liquor Act 1982 for a new or removed hotelier’s licence and the Director-General is of the opinion that the conditional grant supersedes or replaces a conditional grant obtained before that date, or

(c) the hotelier entered into a contract to carry out significant building or refurbishment work on the hotel to which the application relates and work had commenced on or before 19 April 2001.

(2A) A person (referred to in this Division as a "prospective hotelier") may make a hardship application if:

(a) the person would, but for the fact the person is not a hotelier, satisfy the grounds referred to in subsection (2) (b) for making such an application, or

(b) an application ( "the hotel application") was made on or before 19 April 2001 (but not determined by that date):

(i) for a hotelier’s licence in respect of specified premises, or

(ii) for the removal of a hotelier’s licence to those premises,

and the hardship application relates to the keeping of approved gaming machines at those premises.

(2B) A hardship application may be made by a prospective hotelier under subsection (2A) (b) even though the hotel application was made by a person other than the prospective hotelier.

(2C) For the purposes of subsections (2A) and (2B), a reference to a hotel application includes a reference to an application made after 19 April 2001 (but before 2 April 2002):

(a) for a hotelier’s licence in respect of the premises to which the hotel application under subsection (2A) (b) relates, or

(b) for the removal of a hotelier’s licence to those premises.

(3) In addition to subsection (2), a hotelier may make a hardship application if the Board is satisfied, on the evidence provided to the Board by the hotelier, that the financial viability of the hotelier’s business as a whole will be seriously threatened if the hotelier is unable to keep the additional approved gaming machines.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3):

(a) it is not sufficient for the hotelier to establish that the hotelier will not be able to realise expected net profits from any additional approved gaming machines, and

(b) if the hotelier has a financial interest in another hotel-the hotelier is required to establish that the threat to the financial viability of the hotelier’s business cannot be off-set by the profits derived from the keeping of approved gaming machines in the other hotel.

(5) A hotelier may also make a hardship application to keep such number of approved gaming machines as were approved by the Board before 19 April 2001 to be kept in the hotel after that date but that were, because of the operation of the hotel freeze provisions, prevented from being kept in the hotel after that date.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), the "hotel freeze provisions" means clause 46AA of the Liquor Regulation 1996 (as in force immediately before its repeal on 17 July 2001) and Division 2B of Part 11 of the Liquor Act 1982 (as in force immediately before its repeal by this Act).

(7) Division 1 of Part 4 does not apply to a hardship application by a hotelier or prospective hotelier unless the application is made in respect of a new hotel.