Clubs NSW says cashless gaming cards will lead to loss of jobs, revenue
The industry body for the state’s clubs says a mandatory gaming card would be expensive and ineffective in combating problem gambling.
NSW
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Implementing a mandatory cashless gaming card across the state’s 95,000 poker machines could cost more than $800 million and cost 9,000 jobs, according to analysis from Clubs NSW comparing the mooted NSW scheme with previous gambling cards in other jurisdictions.
In its latest salvo against a proposed pokies card, the industry body said making a cashless gaming card mandatory would see revenue fall by $1.8 billion.
That “would cause the loss of more than 9,000 club jobs across the state,” ClubsNSW CEO Josh Landis said.
ClubsNSW believes implementing the proposed mandatory gaming card would cost $807m machines would need to be changed.
“It would mean less financial support for grassroots sport, charities and other community groups, particularly in regional areas, because clubs would have to spend money on the card system instead of helping those who need it most.”
The figures are based on analysis of mandatory gaming cards previously introduced in Norway and Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Nova Scotia card was abandoned after two years, after the government declared it didn’t work.
Despite opposing a mandatory cashless card, ClubsNSW has put forward proposals to the government for a voluntary “digital wallet” to allow cashless punts on the pokies.
In response to the analysis from ClubsNSW, a spokesman for Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello highlighted that gaming machine profit between July to December 2020 amounted to $4.4 billion, representing money lost by gamblers.
Mr Dominello also agreed that previous cashless gaming cards haven’t worked as they were intended.
“I agree, Nova Scotia is an example of what not to do. Technology has advanced significantly since that time,” he told the Telegraph.
The highly anticipated Bergin report into Crown Resorts last month said a mandatory cashless gaming card would be a “powerful mechanism” to combat money laundering.
Mr Dominello yesterday told Budget Estimates on Monday that he wasn’t concerned about punters making small bets but said he was “worried about large sums of money that are put in and then … immediately taken out”.
“That’s highly suspicious activity,” he said.
Last week the Telegraph revealed that a still unreleased government report found that large sums of cash are being turned over in poker machines without a single game being played.
In one instance, more than $4,000 was turned over in three transactions without a game being played.
Mr Dominello did not disagree with a proposal put by Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann that poker machines could be described as “black market ATMs”.
The Minister’s proposal for a cashless gaming card is set for a showdown within government, with cabinet bitterly divided on the issue.
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