How do I get my Bar & Gaming License?

There is no single "bar and gaming licence" in Australia. Working in a bar and working in a gaming room are governed by two separate regimes, and in Victoria the gaming half is not something any training provider can sell you.

If you work behind a bar in a venue that also has gaming machines, you need both, and they run on different clocks with different providers and different regulators.

There is also one thing in Victoria that genuinely is a licence rather than training, and most people who search for a "gaming licence" do not need it. That is covered below.

The two requirements are separate

Doing one does not give you the other, and neither one substitutes for the other in any jurisdiction.

Victorian gaming: the part that surprises people

Victorian RSG is free approved training: online modules through RSG Online and venue-arranged sessions with venue support workers. National SITHGAM training does not replace it. See the official training requirements and our RSG guide.

The Department of Justice and Community Safety delivers it directly through rsgonline.vic.gov.au, with the face-to-face modules run by Venue Support Workers. There is no approved-provider register for Victorian RSG, because there is nothing for a provider to be approved for. A private provider claiming to be an "approved Victorian RSG provider" is describing a scheme that does not exist. See beware of RSA course scams for the same pattern on the alcohol side.

Approved Victorian RSG must be completed even if you hold nationally accredited SITHGAM training from another state. That national training does not replace the Victorian modules. Victorian RSG is free approved training: online modules through RSG Online and venue-arranged sessions with venue support workers. National SITHGAM training does not replace it. See the official training requirements and our RSG guide.

Who has to do Victorian RSG

You must complete it if you are employed in a Victorian gaming venue and you:

• work in the gaming machine area (GMA) of the venue, and
• have more than incidental contact or interaction with players of gaming machines in the GMA

You must also complete it if you are a venue operator, the nominee of a venue operator, or the holder of a gaming industry employee licence.

A Responsible Gambling Officer (RGO), nominated by the venue operator under the Ministerial Direction, must have completed at least Module 1 and be deemed by the venue operator able to meet the requirements of the role.

The "more than incidental contact" test is the one worth reading twice. A bar attendant who occasionally walks through the gaming room carrying glasses may be in a different position from one who serves drinks to players at the machines. If you are unsure, ask the venue operator, because the obligation to ensure you are trained sits with them.

The thing that actually is a licence: the gaming industry employee licence

This is the answer to the question in the title, and it is narrower than almost anyone expects. The gaming industry employee licence is issued by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) and it is a different thing from RSG training. Training is about how you treat players. The licence is about who is allowed inside the machine.

You need it only if your duties involve any of the following:

And the carve-out that decides most cases: opening a gaming machine without accessing the logic area does not require the licence. The example given is emptying the cash hopper. So the everyday act of opening a machine is not, by itself, licensable work.

Two consequences worth holding on to. First, a gaming attendant, a bar attendant or a duty manager who never touches the logic area and never holds logic-area keys does not need a gaming industry employee licence, and no one should be selling them one. Second, if you do hold the licence, you are automatically in the group that must complete RSG training as well — the licence does not replace it, it triggers it.

If your role is heading toward machine servicing, jackpot systems or key custody, ask the venue operator to confirm in writing whether your duties cross the logic-area line, then apply to the VGCCC. If they do not cross it, the answer to "how do I get my gaming licence" is that you do not need one, and the RSG modules are your actual requirement.

The four Victorian RSG modules

After the first Module 3 and Module 4 cycle, both repeat every three years, measured from the date you last completed Module 4.

Three operational rules that catch people out:

• You do not need to finish the training before you start work, and it is not a condition of being hired. Module 1 is due within a month.
• If you attempt Module 4 outside the three-month window after Module 3, you have to redo Module 3. DJCS recommends completing the online module shortly before the paired face-to-face session for exactly this reason.
• If more than three years have passed since Module 2 or Module 4, that is an "expired RSG certificate", and you must complete both Module 3 and Module 4 before you can work in the gaming area again.

There is no physical card. Certificates are generated and re-downloaded from your own account at rsgonline.vic.gov.au, and after a face-to-face module you have to log in to generate that module's certificate. If your name changes, update your profile and regenerate.

If that is your requirement, go straight there. You do not need to pay anyone. Our own Responsible Service of Gambling page says the same thing.

What the venue has to do

The venue operator must ensure any employee who needs RSG training completes Module 1 within one month and Module 2 within six months of starting employment. The operator must also keep a record of employees' completion, and the VGCCC may inspect it. Failure to provide that information on request may result in disciplinary action.

Venue operators can check staff certificate status at rsgonline.vic.gov.au/local/rsg/report_cert_check.php, and should review Module 2 and Module 4 dates to see who is due for a refresher.

Useful contacts: VGCCC on 1300 599 759 or contact@vgccc.vic.gov.au; RSG training help at rsgonlinehelp@justice.vic.gov.au; student sign-up at rsgonline.vic.gov.au.

Which award covers gaming work — and why it splits two ways

This is rarely stated anywhere and it matters, because gaming work happens in two quite different kinds of venue.

Award coverage is decided by the premises, not the job title, and each award covers its industry to the exclusion of any other modern award. So the same gaming attendant, doing the same job on the same machines under the same SITHGAM units, sits under a different award and a different pay table depending on where the venue is:

That split exists because MA000009 clause 4.4(d)(i) expressly states the hospitality award does not cover "clubs registered or recognised under State or Territory legislation". Clubs are the one industry it carves out by name. Under MA000058 clause 4.3 a club has to be both registered and licensed under a relevant liquor, gaming, associations incorporation or corporations statute, and established and operating on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of members and the community. The not-for-profit limb does the real work, so a commercially owned venue with "club" in its trading name is not a club for award purposes.

One counter-intuitive case: a night club is commercial rather than a not-for-profit registered club, so it sits under MA000119 Restaurant Industry Award, not the clubs award.

MA000058 clause 4.4 also expressly covers bar attendants and stewards employed in a club on a football ground, cricket ground, golf course or sports ground.

The good news, and the reason this is worth knowing. Both of the awards that cover gaming work carry the same qualification-based pay floor. Under MA000009, MA000119 and MA000058, a relevant AQF Certificate III or higher, used at work, sets a minimum classification of Level 4. The fast food award MA000003 has no equivalent provision.

So a gaming attendant in a pub and a gaming attendant in an RSL have the same qualification argument available to them, even though the award and the pay table differ. Holding a relevant Certificate III and using those skills is not a niche entitlement in one corner of the industry.

And you do not necessarily need a whole qualification to reach it. The awards define an appropriate level of training three ways: completing a training program meeting the training and assessment requirements of a qualification or one or more appropriate units of competency from a training package; or being assessed by a qualified skills assessor as having at least equivalent skills; or, as at a specified date, having been doing the work of that classification for at least three months. A gaming attendant with SITHGAM022 and a couple of other units on a Statement of Attainment is within the first limb.

Three distinctions worth keeping straight, because this is a pay entitlement rather than a courtesy:

• MA000009 and MA000119 (both at clause 18.1, adult rates) require you to make use of the skills and knowledge derived from those Certificate III competencies. It is not automatic on completion.
• MA000058 (clause 18.3) omits the words "or higher", and adds that the Fair Work Commission may require you to demonstrate that you utilise the relevant skills.
• If it is disputed, the routes differ: MA000009 clause 40, MA000119 clause 34, and for MA000058 referral to the Fair Work Commission.

No dollar rates appear on this page by design — award rates re-set every 1 July, and a stale rate is worse than none. Rostering and penalty provisions also differ between the four awards, so read them in the award that covers your venue. Use the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool with the right award code. See superannuation, tax and payslips.

So what is the national gambling unit for?

SITHGAM022 Provide responsible gambling services is a genuine nationally recognised unit in the SIT Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Training Package, developed by Service and Creative Skills Australia. It appears among the Gaming electives of SIT30622 Certificate III in Hospitality, alongside SITHGAM023, SITHGAM024 and SITHGAM025.

It is worth holding for:

• credit toward a qualification, where it is an available elective — and a completed Certificate III is what triggers the Level 4 classification floor above
• portability — it appears on your national transcript against your USI
• interstate contexts where a national unit is recognised, subject to that state's own rules
• demonstrating competency to an employer outside the Victorian statutory pathway

What it does not do is discharge the Victorian RSG obligation. A Victorian gaming venue worker holding a SITHGAM022 Statement of Attainment still has to complete Modules 1 and 2 of the Victorian statutory training.

What the unit actually contains

This is worth knowing whichever pathway you are on, because it is the clearest published description of what competent gaming-floor conduct looks like.

The harm-minimisation strategies named in the unit are specific and physical rather than attitudinal:

• containing gambling-related signage to inside the venue
• positioning clocks showing the correct time so they are visible in gaming machine areas
• not publishing gaming machine advertising
• not locating automatic teller machines in gaming areas
• ensuring ATM facilities do not allow cash withdrawals from credit accounts

The clock is the one people find surprising, and it is the point of the whole design: a gaming machine area is built to make time disappear, so the countermeasure is a visible clock. Alongside it the unit requires you to implement responsible gambling practices on at least one occasion, including the provision and appropriate placement of signage, advertising and promotional materials, strategies to indicate the passage of time, and strategies that encourage breaks in play.

The signs of gambling harm the unit requires you to recognise:

• bills that cannot be paid because of gambling
• borrowing money to gamble
• changes in sleeping or eating habits
• committing illegal acts to finance gambling
• considering self-harm as a result of gambling
• feelings of remorse after gambling
• gambling more than the person can afford
• home life becoming unhappy because of gambling
• gambling to escape worry or personal problems
• attempting to win back gambling losses

The situations you must have an organisational process for: a customer requesting self-exclusion or assistance; a customer requesting counselling services; venue exclusion of a self-identified problem gambler; disputes or complaints; refusal of credit; and under-age gambling.

The unit also requires knowledge of the venue's procedures for displaying gambling-related signage — counselling services, self-exclusion programs, gambling warnings, house policy and the venue code of conduct — for maintaining confidentiality and privacy, for keeping records of gambling-related incidents, for self-exclusion, third-party exclusion, venue exclusion and responses to a breach of an exclusion, and for referral to counsellors and support services. It expects you to know the distinct roles of staff, supervisors and managers, and the ramifications of non-compliance for both the organisation and the individual.

Assessment must happen in an operational gaming environment — a workplace or a simulated one — with access to current regulatory documents and codes of conduct from state and territory gambling licensing agencies, and an industry-realistic range of customers. Assessors must satisfy the Standards for RTOs requirements and have worked in industry for at least three years applying the unit's skills and knowledge.

A related clarification, because it is easy to get wrong: we hold the SITSS00070 Hospitality Compliance skill set on our scope of registration, and that skill set contains SITHFAB021, SITXFSA005 and SITXFSA006. It is an alcohol-and-food-safety bundle, not a gaming one.

Three systems, and why the distinction matters

Gambling is the area where confusing these costs the most.

"Accredited" and "approved" are not synonyms. A provider can hold System A accreditation and no System B approval at all. For System C there is nothing to hold, and anyone offering it is not who they say they are. There is a rule behind that distinction rather than just a convention: an RTO may only represent that completing a training product leads to a licensed or regulated outcome where the relevant industry regulator has confirmed it. Where no approval scheme exists, no such confirmation can exist either.

And a fourth case worth knowing, because it is the inverse: in Queensland and Western Australia there is no approved-provider register for RSA at all. System A is the whole requirement there, and a claim of "OLGR-approved" or "DLGSC-approved" RSA describes a scheme that does not exist.

Separate again from all three is a licence, which is what the gaming industry employee licence is — issued by the VGCCC to a person, on the basis of their duties, rather than a course anyone delivers.

Queensland's separate manager regime

If you are moving into venue management rather than bar work, Queensland adds RMLV — Responsible Management of Licensed Venues. It is an OLGR-developed course delivered only by OLGR approved trainers, and RMLV certificates expire three years after issue.

A useful consequence: a licensee or approved manager holding a current RMLV certificate does not need a separate RSA certificate in Queensland. The corollary is worth diarising, because RSA in Queensland never expires but RMLV does — letting the RMLV lapse can leave a manager with no current credential at all.

Do not carry RMLV's approval requirement across to RSA. Queensland has no approved-provider register for RSA, and there the Statement of Attainment from any RTO with the unit on scope is the only document — with no expiry.

Western Australia's manager tiers

WA also layers management requirements above RSA:

The approved manager card belongs to the manager tier only, is valid five years, and is renewed online without re-sitting the training. A national police clearance no more than three months old is required.

What to do, in order

1. Work out which state, because everything below depends on it.
2. Alcohol: check the destination’s RSA rules and whether a state certificate, card or bridging step applies. An RSA Statement of Attainment is a national training record, but permission to serve alcohol depends on the destination’s rules. NSW permits eligible temporary interstate workers; permanent movers and security or RSA marshal roles must meet NSW training and competency-card requirements, using bridging where eligible. Victoria offers bridging to eligible interstate holders. SA applies approved-provider rules to training from 1 November 2020, with earlier training not required to be repeated solely for that change. QLD and WA require suitable national RSA evidence. Tasmania distinguishes staff from licence holders; the ACT and NT have local currency and refresher requirements. Check the regulator before your first shift. See RSA recognition by jurisdiction, NSW’s rules and SA’s rules. See how to get an RSA certificate.
3. Gaming in Victoria: register at rsgonline.vic.gov.au and complete Module 1 within a month, Module 2 within six months. Pay nobody.
4. Check whether your duties need the VGCCC gaming industry employee licence — logic-area access, logic-area keys, a Jackpot or Slot Machine Interface Board, or supervising someone who does those things. If not, you do not need it.
5. Gaming in NSW: obtain RCG through an L&GNSW Approved Training Provider and get the endorsement added to your competency card. The RCG endorsement is renewed every five years through the online RCG Refresher.
6. Check which award covers the venue, because a pub and an RSL are different awards with different pay tables.
7. Moving into management: check whether your state has a separate manager qualification — Queensland's RMLV, WA's Course in Management of Licensed Premises. See five tips to help you get into hospitality management and the Certificate IV in Hospitality.

About us

We are Complete Hospitality Training, RTO 3722, CRICOS 04242E. Level 3, 28 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, and 410 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010. Contact melbourne@cht.edu.au or +61 3 9654 1554.

We link to the relevant course and regulatory sources in this guide. Check those sources for current requirements, and confirm course availability, delivery, fees and entry requirements with us before enrolling.

Source records and further guidance

We link the unit records and regulator guidance relevant to this page below. Check the current source before making an enrolment, licensing or employment decision.

• SITHGAM022 Provide responsible gambling services
• SITHFAB021 Provide responsible service of alcohol
• SITSS00070 Hospitality Compliance Skill Set
• SITXFSA005 Use hygienic practices for food safety
• SIT30622 Certificate III in Hospitality
• Responsible Service of Alcohol training requirements (Victoria)
• Responsible Service of Alcohol training requirements (New South Wales)
• Responsible Service of Alcohol training requirements (Queensland)
• Responsible Service of Alcohol training requirements (Western Australia)
• Responsible Service of Gaming (RSG) training requirements (Victoria)
• Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (MA000009)
• Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (MA000119)
• Unique Student Identifier (USI) requirements for RTOs