Bottle shops, bars, hotels and restaurants have been put on notice that NSW is cracking down on the home delivery of booze during the festive season.
There was a boom in the number of businesses delivering alcohol to the door under the flexible approach taken during the COVID lockdown, sparking concerns minors and problem drinkers were using the service.
In October it was revealed the alcohol delivery service Jimmy Brings would face an investigation after it delivered three bottles of wine day to a man’s house almost every day for weeks before he died in June 2018.
The 49-year-old man’s order included bottles of wine and spirits delivered nearly every day, including two identical orders within 10 minutes of each other, and he spent about $24,000 with the service in the years before his death.
The number of alcohol delivery businesses like Jimmy Brings boomed during Covid lockdown – and now the NSW Government is cracking down to ensure minors and problem drinkers aren’t abusing the services
The NSW government introduced reforms in July designed to make it harder to sell alcohol to minors and problem drinkers.
Liquor & Gaming NSW compliance director Dimitri Argeres says alcohol can now be bought and delivered in as little as 30 minutes and without regulatory safeguards the service is easily abused.
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During the party season the regulator will audit the mandatory training requirements, check data records and supplier websites and check on self-exclusion options and ID verifications at point of sale.
The regulator will also go undercover test how easy it is to circumvent the rules.
Liquor & Gaming NSW officers will go undercover to see how easy it is to break the rules and get grog home delivered
“We will be conducting covert secret shopper activities to see how successful we are at buying alcohol outside the legal obligations and whether any laws are breached, all the way to the front door,” Mr Argeres said on Wednesday.
Last year Liquor & Gaming took action 21 times against individuals and corporations for unlicensed liquor sales and deliveries, resulting in convictions and court-ordered fines that kickstarted the reforms rolled out this year.
“There are now many more players on the field and we are reminding all businesses to get familiar with the law,” Mr Argeres said.
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