More than 75 per cent of SA pokie machines now accept notes

South Australians are losing a record $2.2m a day at the pokies. And there’s a big reason why that figure is only going to get worse.

There are fears problem gamblers will lose money at the pokies at a faster rate with more than three quarters of machines now accepting notes at South Australian venues.

The upgrade to technology has happened swiftly, with note-accepting machines only introduced to South Australia in early 2021.

It comes as the state set a record loss of $831m at the pokies in the 2021/22 financial year – an average of more than $2.2m a day.

SA Council of Social Service chief executive Ross Womersley said it wasn’t a coincidence.

“I think on the back of the horrifying figures emerging about the current levels of expenditure we can only expect this story to become worse with the increase in the use of note acceptors,” he said.

“These simply increase the speed at which money can be fed into machines and is almost certain to result in higher expenditure by pokie gamblers.”

Facial recognition technology was also introduced in conjunction with the note-accepting machines, making it easier for more than 250 venues to identify confirmed problem gamblers.

More than 75 per cent of pokie machines in SA now accept notes.

Once identified, venues would be responsible for removing those individuals from machines.

A Consumer and Business Services spokesman said the technology had detected around 13,000 barred people.

“Since the installation of facial recognition technology in gaming venues, the six approved facial recognition systems have analysed more than 468 million images against the data held by CBS,” he said.

But Mr Womersley said the technology only works for those with bans or those who have identified themselves as problem gamblers.

“Even if facial recognition technologies result in better identifying some people who have bans in place, these new note acceptor facilities simply increases the speed at which gamblers will lose and potentially the amounts they spend,” he said.

Australian Hotels Association of SA general manager Ian Horne argued the increased expenditure was due to “pent up demand” following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.

“There has been a lift on gaming spend coming out of Covid which reflects similar uplift in other states and other areas of commerce including retail sale, automotive, intrastate travel etc.” he said.

“Much of this can be attributed to pent up demand and highest household savings due to lack of opportunities to spend because of Covid.”

He said the introduction of note-accepting machines was just catching up to the rest of the nation.

“The SA gaming offer was ageing and declining in appeal because of old machines due to old technology including $1 coin activation only.”

A number of other measures have also been implemented to minimise the potential for gambling-related harm as a result of the introduction of banknote acceptors.

There is a restriction on EFTPOS cash withdrawals to $250 per card over 24 hours and prohibition on the use of $100 banknotes.