Chris Minns slams NSW government’s poker machines plan

The NSW Opposition has accused the government of copying their gambling reform package— but have declared Labor will adopt the Premier’s plan to buy back 2000 poker machines if elected.

Labor will adopt Dominic Perrottet’s plan to buy back 2000 poker machines, but Opposition leader Chris Minns has ruled out copying further features from his rival’s policy after the Coalition finally outlined their gambling reform platform.

It comes as Labor faces having to negotiate with a hostile crossbench if they win minority government – with key independents Alex Greenwich and Greg Piper broadly endorsing Perrottet’s plan, which includes a completion date of 2029 for when all poker machines will be cashless.

Mr Minns claimed parts of the Coalition’s plan, released Monday, were “borrowed or stolen” from Labor’s policy unveiled last month, while criticising the length of time it would take to be implemented.

“We’ve waited four months for his proposal for a change that will come about in six years’ time,” Mr Minns said in reaction to the Liberals announcement, before adding he would borrow one of the key policies outlined in Perrottet’s plan.

He also took aim at the lack of a government-mandated daily limit under the Coalition plan, with punters able to set their own once a week - despite Labor policy not having a mandated daily limit either.

Chris Minns has lashed out at the Coalition over the government’s poker machine policy. Picture: Monique Harmer

Labor will instead decide whether to introduce a daily limit based on a trial of 500 machines it’ll carry out.

While backing away from changing Labor’s policy further, Mr Minns did say it would adopt at least one measure unveiled by the Premier on Monday.

“On the other side of the ledger, there’s also an initiative that the government is proposing that NSW Labor believes does make sense and we will implement if we win office in March this year, and that is a buyback at 2000 poker machines across New South Wales,” Mr Minns said.

It comes as political donations from pubs and clubs will be banned by a re-elected Perrottet government as part of the premier’s sweeping reform of the gambling industry.

Player privacy will also be protected with the government promising that a player’s data will only be used for law enforcement, government or commercial purposes and player privacy protections will be legislated for all system generated data.

“We will legislate the strictest privacy protections for player data with no government or industry access to personalised player data other than for law enforcement purposes,” Premier Dominic Perrottet said.

The NSW government plans to make poker machiens cashless by 2029.

“We will introduce an optional buyback scheme targeted to acquire 2000 machines from venues over the next five years and will ban political donations from pubs and clubs in NSW.”

The cashless gaming trial will also be expanded from 500 to 2000 machines in 2023 but the premier stopped short of implementing a maximum cap for players.

Users will be able to self regulate a weekly limit but there is no cap on what the limit can be.

Mr Perrottet defended his decision to not progress a proposal in 2020 to buy back poker machines as a Covid cash measure.

“I spent my time every day working with businesses, working with industry, and looking at new ways of doing things and put all ideas on the table,” he said.

“We progressed a number of initiatives at the time to help businesses survive when they were closed and are forced to close.”

The premier’s comments come after his announcement that machines across NSW will go cashless before 2029 under a re-elected Coalition government, after he secured cabinet support for his long-awaited pokies reform package ahead of the March election.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is understood to have secured internal support on Sunday night on signature gambling reforms.

As first revealed by The Daily Telegraph on Sunday night, Mr Perrottet convinced Nationals ministers to back the plan after promising a regional assistance package for pubs and clubs.

Nationals ministers had been sceptical of a cashless pokies card in the bush, warning lost revenue streams could hobble local venues.

Ministers signed off on the pokies plan in a specially-convened cabinet meeting on Sunday.

Under Mr Perrottet’s plan, cashless poker machines would be implemented statewide over a number of years.

Daily limits for spending on the cashless card will also be in place.

On Monday, the clubs lobby raised concerns Perrottet’s vow to make all pokies in NSW cashless within six years would lead to job losses and cripple small regional pubs.

In a statement, ClubsNSW also said there were worries over the cost of fitting machines with a new cashless system which doesn’t exist yet.

“ClubsNSW is concerned about the significant costs and technical challenges associated with the Coalition’s proposal to implement a mandatory cashless gaming system,” it said.

“We’re particularly concerned about the implications for small, regional clubs and the impact this will have on jobs across the industry.

“ClubsNSW is committed to working with whomever wins the March election to combat problem gambling and keep criminals out of gaming venues.”

The reform comes after months of speculation about what the Coalition will take to the election to reform poker machines, after Mr Perrottet declared he wanted to remove cash from the pokies in a bid to crack down on money laundering and help problem gamblers.

Sceptical Nationals agreed to support the cashless gaming card plan after they secured a support package to help find more revenue streams if reform leads to income from pokies drying up. Many Nationals ministers - and some Liberals - had been cautious about or opposed to a cashless gaming card.

It is also understood that a smaller fund could be in place specifically to apply, for example, to one-pub towns.

A re-elected Coalition government would also implement a pokies buyback policy.

As revealed on Sunday night, a pokies buyback was first considered as early as 2020, after Mr Perrottet (as Treasurer) asked his department for advice on the proposal.

Mr Perrottet asked Treasury officials for advice on the “merits” and “challenges” of buying back poker machines from clubs, in a bid to give shuttered venues financial support during the first Covid lockdown.

According to secret Treasury documents obtained by the Telegraph, the proposed buyback was also a “significant opportunity to reduce (poker machine) numbers and thereby the health, social and financial harms of problem gambling”.

The “draft discussion paper,” released under freedom of information laws, stated that buying back pokies could help stop problem gambling, but only if the buyback was “permanent” and targeted pokies with “high utilisation rates”.

Meanwhile, a number of names are now emerging as potential replacements for sacked ClubsNSW CEO Josh Landis.

One name mentioned by industry sources was Wes Lambert, former Restaurant and Catering Association CEO.

Sources said he was integral in reopening the hospitality sector during the Covid lockdowns, and while he lacked gambling experience, he would be a safe pair of hands with experience in dealing with the government on hospitality regulations.

Other names mentioned by industry sources include Australian Hotels Association NSW CEO John Whelan and Business Sydney Executive Director Paul Nicolau.