Poker machines to get note acceptors, new crackdown on barring orders, in SA State Government’s ‘balanced’ reform
Notes as well as coins, permanent bans for problem gamblers, and access on Christmas and Good Friday are all part of the State Government’s proposed overhaul.
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Poker machines in SA would for the first time be able to accept notes instead of just coins, and punters could use the machines on Christmas and Good Friday, in a sweeping shake-up by the State Government.
The overhaul plan, which Attorney-General Vickie Chapman is selling as a “balanced” package, also includes tougher barring rules for problem gamblers and limits on EFTPOS withdrawals in pokie venues.
The Advertiser can reveal key parts of the package, which would need approval from Parliament, include:
ALLOWING people to be permanently banned from gambling venues.
REMOVING “red tape” for new venues, by using a new “public interest” test similar to that which applies for pubs.
EXPANDING the gamblers’ rehabilitation fund to allow spending on public education, information treatment and counselling.
ABOLISHING a statutory objective of reducing the number of gaming machines in SA and replacing it with a “fixed maximum number”.
MAKING it easier for clubs with gaming machine licences to amalgamate or transfer poker machine entitlements.
PERMITTING note acceptor technology on machines and limiting the largest bill that can be inserted to a sum that’s not yet decided.
LIMITS on the amount of money someone can access through EFTPOS facilities in a gaming machine venue, to a level yet to be determined.
LETTING clubs, hotels and casinos operate gaming machines on Christmas Day and Good Friday, in line with past changes to the sale of liquor.
The package has been cautiously welcomed by the clubs and hotels industry, but met with dismay from a leading social services group that’s called it “a recipe for greater gambling harm” and lacking in details.
Ms Chapman said the package would “better protect the community from gaming related harm, while also supporting the hotel and hospitality sector” at the same time.
“Through these reforms, we want to strike a balance between supporting an economically viable gaming industry and meeting the broader community’s expectations around responsible and safe gaming,” Ms Chapman said.
“The introduction of (note) acceptors would bring South Australia into line with other Australian and New Zealand jurisdictions.
“The denomination of banknotes and amount of money ... inserted by a player would be strictly controlled to mitigate any potential risk.”
Uniting Communities manger of advocacy Mark Henley said the Government was reversing an established trend of tougher pokie regulation.
“It’s going to create more gambling harm. Nothing is more certain,” he said.
“Poker machine gambling impacts the poorest people and communities the most severely. Note acceptors will just dramatically increase that.”
Australian Hotels Association SA chief executive Ian Horne said the changes were “an overdue progression in technology” at a time when tax from pokies was flat and online punting was surging.
“It is the bricks and mortar offering provided by hotels, clubs and Casino that generates SA jobs, investment and embraces harm minimisation strategies,” he said. “These reforms as we understand it are not a revolution in gambling but an overdue progression in technology within a highly-developed harm minimisation gambling environment, something that does not exist online.”