Pub billionaire Arthur Laundy has been preparing for this day for more than 10 years. The Financial Review Rich Lister, worth $1.9 billion through his family-owned chain of pubs and hotels stretching the length of NSW, structured his business knowing in the back of his mind that regulations around poker machines could one day shift.

But now the Perrottet government has unveiled a pre-election plan to phase out the use of cash in all poker machines across the state and a $350 million package to help pubs and clubs cope with the transition, Mr Laundy is convinced that it’s the smallest players in the sector that will suffer most.