Review of the Registered Clubs Industry in NSW - Clubs NSW

2 The registered clubs industry in NSW
Since 1998, 105 clubs have amalgamated and 184 clubs have ceased to trade, while
only 35 new club premises have been established. In 2007, there were 1,375
registered clubs operating across 1,532 premises in NSW. 10
Since 2000, regulatory changes that have affected the performance of clubs include:
The introduction of new responsible gambling measures, such as restrictions on
gaming machine operating hours, caps on the number of gaming machines, and
stricter requirements on applications for new entitlements as well as on
transferring existing entitlements to other club premises.
The phased introduction of smoking restrictions in enclosed public areas of hotels,
registered clubs, nightclubs and most parts of the Star City Casino. All enclosed
areas of these types of venue became totally smoke-free from 2 July 2007.
The phased introduction of increased rates of tax on gaming machine revenue
over the last three years. A Memorandum of Understanding is currently in place
between the Government and the industry that outlines the rates of tax on gaming
machine revenue until 2011/12.
2.2 The registered clubs industry and its peak bodies
The registered clubs industry in NSW includes a variety of clubs that offer different
services to cater to different interest groups. The most common club categories, by
interest group, are:
Returned & Services League (RSL) and services clubs
bowling
golf
leagues and football
other sports and recreation
community and workers
religious and cultural
other.
As outlined in Table 2.1, around half of the club premises in NSW are either bowling
or RSL/services facilities (50 per cent). The next largest group of club premises is
golf and other sport/recreation facilities (29 per cent). Club premises in the ’Others’
category include those catering to less common interests, such as automobile,
musician, aero and country clubs.
10 With regard to registered clubs, a distinction needs to be made between the registered club on the
certificate of registration and the club premises. A registered club in NSW can operate from more
than one club premise. This can be the result of amalgamating with other clubs, or simply through
growth and expansion of the club’s facilities over time.
28 IPART Review of the Registered Clubs Industry in NSW