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A potentially illegal loyalty scheme that excludes punters from a plush new room at a NSW RSL club unless they spend up big has come under fire from the club's members and gambling experts.
The Doyalson Wyee RSL Club, ranked 62 out of more than 1000 clubs in NSW for poker machine profit, is blocking members who are not at "Chrystal, Platinum and Diamond" level from accessing its "un-clublike gaming experience" at the new Oasis lounge.
Doyalson Wyee RSL Club member Rod Beech, is speaking up about the club excluding members from a newly opened Oasis loungeCredit:Rhett Wyman
The members at those top tiers also get a daily meal allowance of $40 but to reach them costs at least $200 a day, Diamond members have told fellow club patrons.
In July, Dee Why RSL was slapped with $200,000 in fines and costs for giving ‘high roller’ benefits and exclusive perks to Gary Van Duinen while ignoring his serious gambling addiction. Gambling experts say this is a similar breach.
Rod Beech was told he could be banned for "inappropriate behaviour" that is "harmful to the interests of the club" after he complained about the room being off-limits to most of the club's 34,500 members.
"People asked me how do you get in (to the Oasis lounge) and I said 'do what my mate did and put your house through the pokies and you're allowed in'," Mr Beech said.
Doyalson Wyee RSL CEO Darren Thornton said all the club's members are "entitled to participate" in its membership rewards program.
Mr Thornton would not say what the minimum spend to access the Oasis lounge is or how many members are at that level.
"It's discriminative [sic]," Mr Beech said. "I've been coming to the club since I was 17 and I'm 58, I spoke freely and openly and I've been crucified for it."
Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at Monash University, said that the regulator's action against Dee Why RSL should be applied to Doyalson Wyee RSL.
It's "red flags everywhere", Dr Livingstone said.
"It's the antithesis of anything you could describe as the responsible provision of gambling. Anyone who is in that room is a high-risk gambler and at severe risk of serious harm."
Alliance for Gambling Reform Executive Director Tony Mohr said this kind of loyalty scheme is rife throughout NSW.
"The Doyalson Wyee RSL club is breaking the law by operating this scheme that encourages harmful levels of gambling," Mr Mohr said.
(Left-right) Members of Doyalson Wyee RSL Club, Troy Stolz, Wendy Boyd and Rod Beech are speaking up about the club excluding members form a new lounge areaCredit:Rhett Wyman
The club known as "The Doylo" had 220 poker machines operating in June this year and reported $17 million in poker machine revenue in 2016 (the most recent figure reported).
Terry Salmon who goes to the club once a fortnight spending about $300 on the poker machines, says it's unfair.
"I've been going (to the club) for more than 20 years, it used to have live bands on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night but that's all gone now, it's just a gambling casino," Mr Salmon, 69, said.
Member benefits "must be offered equally", a Liquor & Gaming NSW spokeswoman said.
"Where this is not the case, for example, in situations where a VIP area is set up that excludes certain categories of member over others, Liquor & Gaming will take a risk-based approach to compliance," the spokeswoman said.
Mr Thornton said the Doyalson Wyee RSL was "very much" aware of, and complied with, its obligations under the Registered Clubs Act. "The club does not consider it appropriate to make further comment in relation to individual members."
ClubsNSW declined to comment.
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