Pre-paid ticket among new options being considered in NSW cashless pokies push

The NSW government has shed more light on the transition to cashless pokies in the state, with the latest move aimed at helping smaller clubs in regional and rural areas.

Punters will be able to walk into a pub and purchase a pre-loaded ticket to play the pokies using their bank card, under one of the options being considered to usher in cashless gaming by the Perrottet government.

While the Premier has promised all pokies will be cashless by 2028, lower technology solutions are being considered as a sweetener for reluctant rural pubs and clubs with elderly customers.

The Telegraph can reveal the government is currently considering the use of a prepaid ticketed option for cashless gaming, which it would roll out in trials.

Under the scheme punters would be able to purchase a ticket which has been loaded up with funds using an EFTPOS terminal, preventing cash from being used.

The technology would be accompanied by other measures the government has pledged to introduce in order to identify problem gamblers or money laundering, such as a statewide self-exclusion register.

Premier Dominic Perrottet is continuing the cashless pokies push. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

A spokesman for the Australian Hotels Association NSW voiced concerns over the proposal, saying any new technology had to be accessible for “casual players”.

“We’re not aware of this proposal, but it sounds complicated,” he said.

“It’s important any new technology doesn’t drive away casual players who won’t sign up to a government mandated system linked to their personal bank accounts and only leave problem gamblers playing.”

A spokesman for ClubsNSW, the club industry’s lobby group, said it “supports the exploration of a range of technological solutions in the cashless gaming space”, to ensure whatever system was adopted worked well for the customer.

Big changes are coming to pokies in NSW.

The details of the new technology comes as the Coalition moves to assure the industry that cashless gaming won’t be mandated through a “one size fits all” card.

Minister Hospitality and Racing Kevin Anderson said a government gambling task force would trial multiple ways of cashless gaming and there wouldn’t be one single method rolled out across the state.

“There will not be a one size fits all card,” he said.

“We know a bowling club in a regional town is completely different from a large club in Sydney. That’s why the task force will assess different technologies to ensure venues can adopt systems best suited to them.

“For this to be effective, it needs to be simple and easy to adopt for customers and smaller venues.”

Just one cashless gaming trial is underway in NSW currently, with 262 participants enrolled in trial at a Newcastle club where funds from a ‘gaming wallet’ installed on the player’s smart phone are transferred directly onto a pokie machine via a Bluetooth link.

A similar trial is expected to begin in the coming months at Club York in the CBD, while more trials are set to commence at the Lone Pine Tavern at Rooty Hill and Crows Nest Hotel early this year.