Sydney hotel ordered to remove cartoon signs similar to poker machine imagery
The Royal Hotel in western Sydney’s Granville has been ordered to remove cartoon imagery that is “too similar” to imagery in a popular poker machine game.
Liquor and Gaming NSW fielded several complaints about the cartoons, which led to an investigation by the gaming watchdog into whether cartoons could lead to “gambling related harm”.
The image promotes the hotel’s restaurant, ‘Mr Choy’s Wok’.
It shows a Chinese man with a plate of small dumplings which Liquor and Gaming said was “materially extremely similar” to a cartoon showing a man holding small bags of money used in the poker machine game ‘Choy’s Kingdom.
The watchdog ordered the Royal Hotel Granville to remove the Mr Choy cartoons from its takeaway menus, external signage, social media pages and website.
Royal Hotel Granville, which has approval to operate 21 poker machines, challenged the decision citing “considerable” costs and claimed there was “no evidence” that the signs presented “an actual risk” to the community. The venue also pointed out the differences between the two cartoons.
“If the copyright/trademark owner of ‘Choy’s Kingdom’ was of the view that Mr Choy’s was materially extremely similar then they would have taken steps to protect those rights, however no such steps have been taken,” the hotel’s application added.
Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority chair Caroline Lamb rejected the application stating the images were too similar and could “increase the risk of gambling-related harm occurring”.
“There may be some subtle differences in the restaurant’s images (but) the images are materially extremely similar to that used in the
‘Choy’s Kingdom’ electronic gaming.” she said in the decision.
The NSW Government recently changed its signage laws and now requires all venues across the state to avoid external gambling-related signage.
Jonathan Jackson, 6th August 2024
