The NSW state government will place a tougher stance on poker machines – including moratorium on new machines and higher taxes on clubs generating significant profits from them – to the next election amid rising pressure within its ranks.
The Australian arm of The Guardian news outlet reports that the poker machine issue was among the key discussion points when the NSW Labor Party held it annual conference on Sunday, with a motion passed to take “decisive action” by adopting reform as a policy platform to next year’s state election.
NSW is home to almost 88,000 authorized poker machines, representing around half of the national total. The vast majority of those are located in pubs and clubs, with the casino at The Star Sydney home to just 1,500 machines. Crown Sydney is not permitted to have poker machines due to a long-standing exclusivity agreement inked with the government.
According to The Guardian’s report, the Labor government will propose placing a moratorium on licenses for new machines, removing 50% of machines that are moved between venues from operation and imposing higher taxes on clubs that make more than AU$20 million (US$13.9 million) in profits from their machines. The policy will include a mandate to “significantly reduce” the number of machines in operation over the next decade.
It is also claimed that the government will look to require facial recognition technology in every gaming room in the state as a means of supporting the statewide exclusion register.
Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne reportedly told delegates of the conference, “For too long, NSW politics has treated the pokies as a problem that everyone acknowledges, but which nobody is willing to solve … for too long the private interests of the poker machine lobby have trumped the public interest of preventing addiction and harm.”
The potential reform comes after the federal Labor government last week introduced to parliament new rules surrounding gambling advertising, including restricting gambling advertising on TV to no more than three ads each hour between 6am and 8.30pm and a complete ban during live sport broadcasts within those hours.
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