The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled this week that the machines could be installed despite an appeal by the City of Greater Bendigo.

Owner Michael Kuchel said he was happy with the final decision.

“The decision is more a relief than celebration,” he said.

“We believe in the justice process and we’re happy to accept the umpire’s decision.”

Mr Kuchel said he looked forward to growing the business while working to deliver responsible gaming.

“We look forward to working closely with St Luke’s recently launched Venue Support Worker Program to deliver responsible gaming.”

St Luke’s Anglicare chief executive David Pugh said the program would make a big difference to gaming venues.

“It’s a program to support venues in implementing responsible gambling practices,” he said.

“It can be particularly hard to know how to spot someone who might have a gambling problem ... and quite challenging to walk up to them and say ‘you seem to be here for many hours, have spent many dollars, are you OK?’ So we support workers in learning how to deal with that.

“We have a staff member who has a background in finance and hospitality who is implementing the training to skill them up.”