Development with Embracing change in a new world - Club Mooloolaba

Club Mooloolaba is embracing the changing world in their part of the Sunshine Coast.

Vice Chairperson, Ann Stewart, has done some great work in actively reaching out to local over-50s villages, inviting them to come along and enjoy the club facilities.

Although finding the right person to speak to has not been easy, Ann has persisted and several lifestyle villages have accepted the invitation to come along and enjoy some friendly competition.

The event has now evolved into an annual competition and earlier this year, 28 teams from 12 villages joined in for a day of triples competition. Yes, that is right, 84 players!

This is the third year of the competition and the club is seeing great community inclusion and an uptake in club membership, due to the bowlers enjoying a wider variety of competition and camaraderie at the club.

The competition is converting players into members at a good rate and lifestyle village residents are looking for more competitions. Lifestyle village residents enjoy the services offered at the club and come back to enjoy the meals and entertainment on a regular basis.

Ann has shown what can be achieved if you have an idea and the desire to make it happen. These villages are here to stay, so we need to take a leaf out of Ann’s book and reach out to see what a difference this kind of initiative can make at your club. Thank you Ann, for your great work in leading the way.

207 ntwining@bowls.com.au

Closing your bowls club’s gaming room-What are the steps?

Gaming Clubs have become adept at ensuring their gaming rooms can remain operational with minimal disruption during renovation works. However, there may be occasions when a gaming licensee needs to close down their gaming room for an extended period or permanently, for reasons such as the club being demolished and rebuilt, relocated, or ceasing to offer gaming.

To close a gaming room, the licensee must apply to the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR) for the suspension of the liquor and gaming machine licences, storage of gaming machines, and approval for alterations to the premises, including the new gaming room. The Licensed Monitoring Operator (LMO) will then assist with the de-commissioning and relocation of the gaming machines.

The jackpot monies collected from gaming players must be returned to customers as winnings. These monies are not the licensee’s funds, and as such, there are strict requirements regarding how they can be dealt with. While a club may assume it can hold onto these monies during a major redevelopment and then re-apply them to the jackpot once the club is ready to commence trading again, this is not permitted.

Once the jackpot system is decommissioned, the LMO will calculate the exact amount of the accrued jackpot, and the gaming licensee is then responsible for dealing with these funds. The OLGR’s preference is that the monies be contributed to another jackpot system in the premises, which is not an option for most clubs in these circumstances.

An alternative option is for the club to return the funds to its customers via gaming-related promotional activities within the club. OLGR approval is required for the proposed promotion, which must comply with the requirements for Category 4 Promotional Games. Promotional games must have free entry, and the winners are determined entirely or partly by chance. Players may be required to buy goods or services to receive their free entry as long as the goods and services are sold at their usual market value price. The licensee must provide the OLGR with details regarding how the promotion will be undertaken, the prizes available, how people can enter, how the draw is conducted, and the timeframe for the promotion. In exceptional circumstances, the OLGR may approve the jackpot funds being donated to charity. Failing any of the above options, the monies can be forfeited to the OLGR and paid into the consolidated funds.

The preferred solution is for the monies to be returned to players. Therefore, if the club doesn’t have another operating jackpot system, running a promotional activity should be conducted before ceasing trade. This may mean that the jackpot system needs to be decommissioned before the premises cease trading to calculate the exact amount to be distributed.

Clubs are used to dealing with regulatory and compliance requirements as part of their operations, and ceasing to conduct gaming for a lengthy period or decommissioning a jackpot system is no different. It is important for clubs to properly plan such major works, but the ability to run a promotion and give cash prizes to patrons may be an opportunity that some clubs can take advantage of as part of a major redevelopment or relocation.

If you have any questions on this topic or any other issues relating to a temporary or permanent club closure, please call me, Matt Bradford, at 07 3224 0353.

Two NEW laws rescinded: Changes to the new laws effective immediately

It has been a very successful and enjoyable month of May with the completion of the State District Sides and State Championships. Congratulations to all the winners and players, officials, sponsors and all volunteers for the wonderful work carried out to make the events successful. Many people, including myself, watched the games on live streaming run by the Gold Coast Tweed Media Team. Special thanks for their wonderful work as it was great to be able to watch the many games played from the comfort of home.

Most recently, World Bowls has revoked laws Laws 37.1.3 and 37.1.5.3, effective immediately. Please see statement from World Bowls below, and if you need help, please do not hesitate to contact your district or anyone from the Bowls Queensland Umpire Committee, who will be only too happy to assist.

Full Statement From World Bowls

In August 2022 the above two new laws were introduced to the Laws of the Sport Crystal Mark Fourth Edition. They were designed to penalise a player who deliberately displaced their own teams bowl on its original course or lifted a bowl at rest to allow one of their own team’s bowls to pass.

Despite a clarification document published on the World Bowls Website in September 2022, it has become very clear from communications that the two laws have caused a great deal of confusion and have resulted in games being forfeited incorrectly following players innocently stopping bowls from entering the ditch.

Furthermore, the management of a side game and the resulting penalty after a team has been disqualified has also caused a great deal of confusion with MNAs and domestic Controlling Bodies.

Concern has been around the severe penalty of forfeiting the game and clarity in the wording of the law itself. Recommendations have been received to reduce the severity of the forfeit to penalising with shot deductions. This approach would be inconsistent with any other law and was not felt to be a suitable solution. Penalties have always existed for the displacement of a bowl by its own team players but at the time of the 2021 Laws review these penalties were not felt to be severe enough for what is considered an act of “cheating”.

Having considered several options to improve the intent of these two laws, the World Bowls Laws Advisory Group have concluded and recommended to the Board of World Bowls to rescind them. The numbering of Law 37.1.4 will remain untouched until the next review of the Laws.

The changes to the Laws are summarised as follows:

37.1.3 If a bowl in its original course is deliberately displaced or stopped by a member of the team that delivered the bowl, the defaulting team will forfeit the game to their opponent.

37.1.4 Displacement of a bowl in motion.

37.1.4.1 If a bowl in motion is displaced by a player and it has not disturbed the head after it is displaced, the opposing skip or the opponent in Singles must choose whether to:

37.1.4.1.1 place the bowl where the player believes it would have come to rest; or

37.1.4.1.2 declare the end dead.

37.1.4.2 If a bowl in motion is displaced by a player and it has disturbed the head after it is displaced, the opposing skip or the opponent in Singles must choose whether to:

37.1.4.2.1 place the bowl where the player believes it would have come to rest and replace any part of the head disturbed after the displacement; or

37.1.4.2.2 declare the end dead.

37.1.5 Displacement of a bowl at rest.

37.1.5.1 If a bowl at rest or a toucher in the ditch is displaced by a player and it has not disturbed the head after it is displaced, the opponent must put the bowl back to its former position.

37.1.5.2 If a bowl at rest or a toucher in the ditch is displaced by a player and it has disturbed the head after it is displaced, the opponent must put the bowl back to its former position and replace any part of the head disturbed after the displacement.

37.1.5.3 If a player lifts a bowl at rest on their rink to allow their team’s bowl in its original course to pass, the defaulting team will forfeit the game to their opponent.

The World Bowls Board, following a recommendation from the World Bowls Laws Advisory Group, have agreed to rescind Laws 37.1.3 and 37.1.5.3 with immediate effect.