With gambling reform one of the major issues of the coming state election, Crikey looks at how the gaming lobby has held both parties back from meaningful reform for decades.
In 1956, New South Wales became the first Australian state to legalise poker machines. It was common knowledge, though, that they had been operating for decades prior — in 1932 the state government held a royal commission into “fruit machines”. Since then, increasingly sophisticated gaming machines have spread out across the state, and across the country. According to Liquor and Gaming NSW, in the first half of 2022, $3.8 billion was lost on poker machines in that state alone — roughly $20 million a day.
With each approaching election, the issue of whether there will be meaningful reform of the sector rears its head, and this year is no different. Premier Dominic Perrottet has promised a reelected Coalition government would make poker machines in the state cashless by the end of 2028, while Labor’s policy is far less stringent, proposing a trial of cashless technology in 500 of the state’s nearly 90,000 machines.
ClubsNSW in particular has been a key player in this game. Since 2010, three Coalition governments have signed memorandums (MoU) of understanding with the peak body for the clubs industry, committing not to legislate in a way that significantly impacts gambling revenues — or, as the first MoU puts it, “to help secure the long-term financial viability of NSW clubs and allow them to strengthen their economic and social contribution to the state”. This makes Perrottet’s commitment a serious development.
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