Victoria’s Justice Department has opened a public consultation period over government plans to radically overhaul the state’s AU$5bn gambling industry from 2012. Incumbent operators Tabcorp and Tattersall’s stand to lose out under current proposals, which would see gaming machines operated directly by licensed venues and also introduce competitive bidding for wagering and keno licences.

Trading in shares of leading Australian gaming companies Tabcorp and Tattersall’s was halted yesterday after Victorian Premier John Brumby announced that both would lose their exclusive licences to operate nearly 30,000 machines in Australia’s second largest state. Clubs and pubs will now own and operate machines directly, leaving the two companies to fight over wagering and keno licences ahead of the new machine regime coming into effect in 2012.

Victoria's gambling industry is undergoing a period of rapid change, with sweeping reforms dismantling the existing duopoly over the lucrative gaming machines market from 2012. In other developments regulatory officials last year seized an internet gambling kiosk used to bet on an interstate bookmaker's website.

Victoria’s gaming and racing lawmakers celebrated Tuesday’s prestigious Melbourne Cup race by announcing a 60 percent cut in state wagering taxes to be implemented within four years. The tax cut comes as a taster of the wholesale reforms in Victorian gambling regulation that will take effect from 2012, which will include a state betting exchange product being introduced under a new wagering licence.

A merger of two of Australia's leading gaming firms would have "great benefits" - particularly after recent legislative changes, according to the chief executive of Tatts Group.

Opposition politicians have threatened to derail the Victorian government’s deal to allow Crown to install an additional 150 gaming tables at its flagship Melbourne casino in return for an increase in slot machine taxes.

Fresh from the blow of the government’s reorganisation of the pokies market in Victoria, Tabcorp is looking to the future with an application to run a horseracing and sports-betting service in Northern Territory.

Fresh from the blow of the government’s reorganisation of the pokies market in Victoria, Tabcorp is looking to the future with an application to run a horseracing and sports-betting service from the Northern Territory.

Australian gaming giant Tabcorp Holdings has said a Victorian state government decision to hike the annual levy on electronic gaming machines came without consultation and is badly timed for the industry.

Victoria Premier John Brumby has announced that from 2010 all gaming machines in the state will have installed systems to allow gamblers to set limits on the amount of time and money they spend gambling. The announcement, part of a series of problem gambling initiatives confirmed by Brumby, comes as political debate surrounding poker machines and gambling addiction continues to intensify throughout Australia.