Two directors of a gaming company have been fined and had restrictions placed on their gaming licences after flawed internal practices allowed one of their employees to illegally on sell gaming machines.
Mr Zvonko Mladenovski and Mr Borce Siskoski, directors of Fourtech Gaming Devices Pty Limited (Fourtech), have been found to have breached several gaming regulations and been subjected to fines and licensing restrictions after a Liquor & Gaming NSW investigation.
The NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority chair Philip Crawford said this case demonstrated why strict rules around the gaming machines were needed.
“Any unlawful conduct around gaming machines risks the integrity of the industry and increases the risk of gaming machines falling into the wrong hands,” Mr Crawford said
“There are strong regulations around the keeping, movement and disposal of gaming machines.”
The investigation by Liquor & Gaming NSW started after a smash repair business at Kogarah and a home at Alfords Point were raided by NSW Police in May 2018 with several gaming machines seized.
The raid was conducted after the owner of the property, Mr Jihad Mohamad, unlawfully advertised gaming machines for sale on the internet. Mr Mohamad did not hold any sort of gaming licence and was not authorised to possess or sell machines.
A review of the machines found they were last disposed of by Fourtech with a subsequent investigation revealing a Fourtech employee Peter Formosa, who was a warehouse supervisor with the company, had illegal sold approximately 15 gaming machines over an 18-month period.
The ILGA found Mr Formosa, who was not licensed to work on gaming machines, had been specifically tasked by Mr Mladenovski and Mr Siskoski to carry out work on machines including destroying units.
After assessing the company’s records inspectors identified 38 gaming machines that have “potentially” been sold by Mr Formosa without the knowledge of Fourtech directors.
Liquor & Gaming NSW Director of Compliance, Dimitri Argeres said the ILGA found those sales were the result of “flawed internal practices and processes” that afforded Mr Formosa unfettered access to machines.
“There were no detailed records of machines that Fourtech owned and the company relied on the compliance plates of its machine to confirm that they had possessed them,” Mr Argeres said.
“Possessing a gaming machine without approval is an offence that carries significant penalties, up to and including a term of imprisonment.”
Mr Mladenovski and Mr Siskoski were both fined $2,200 each while Fourtech was ordered to pay $4,400 plus $7,500 in investigation costs.
A number of restrictions were also placed on the company’s licence including maintaining a register of all gaming machines, installing CCTV cameras and ensuring all company employees have a gaming licence.
Mr Mladenovski, Mr Siskoski and Fourtech have the right to appeal.
A full copy of the decision is available on the Liquor & Gaming NSW website.
