Keeping tabs on regional Vic gaming venues

Regional Victorian gaming venues will come under greater scrutiny, with an expansion of the state's gambling authority.

Victoria's Commission for Gaming and Liquor Regulation will hire eight inspectors for two new liquor and gaming monitoring hubs at Ararat and Sale, the state government says.

The authority's expansion into regional Victoria was one of the recommendations of an auditor-general report.

In its May budget the state government gave the commission $11.3 million over four years to establish a presence outside Melbourne.

"More liquor and gambling inspectors based in regional locations means better monitoring of licensed venues across the state," Gaming and Liquor Regulation Minister Marlene Kairouz said on Monday.

The same auditor-general report, released in February, also found the commission was not paying enough attention to supervising Melbourne's Crown Casino.

The commission's use of rotating inspector teams rather than a dedicated permanent team meant shortcomings in monitoring responsible gambling, money laundering and the detection of people excluded by Victoria police, the report said.

The commission was also unable to show it properly examined and assessed all licensing applications meticulously before approving them.

The authority had begun to establish a dedicated casino team at the time of the report and accepted all of the auditor-general's recommendations, including stronger requirements for liquor license applicants.