Mark Morri: Cashless gaming will see crooks turn to illegal casinos

A move to cashless gaming in NSW will do some good for a lot of punters with a gambling problem, but the campaign that has brought about this is built on a lie, writes Mark Morri.

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The big question I want to know is where will all the cash go when poker machines will no longer be sucking up the bank notes to the tune of $95 billion a year?

For decades I hated them. They killed off live music at some of my favourite venues and turned me into a gambler, something I had never been before.

I have learnt to manage it, by not having an ATM card or being able to get cash on my credit card.

They have insidiously crept into the pub and clubs, from people putting a “few bob” in the pokies, which was literally what you did because they only took 20 cent pieces, to now where people are losing their savings and, in some cases, taking their lives as machines accept $100 notes as quickly as the reels spin.

The move to cashless machines is gathering momentum and it will do some good for a lot of punters with a gambling problem but the campaign that has brought about this is built on a lie.

It is a total fallacy poker machines are used to launder money. The truth is the cash being pumped in is from dumb criminals with tons of illegal cash and bad gambling habits.

The campaign around poker machines being used to launder money is a lie, writes Mark Morri.

There is a perverse argument to say at least the government is getting some tax dollars from the drug dealers who pour millions into the machines and they are stripped of their illegal money, which goes back to the pubs and clubs, who at least provide jobs.

If you really want to help problem gamblers, slow down the reels and make note inhibitors restricted to smaller denominations.

It bores the average punter and often leads to smaller losses.

Despite the high hopes and good intentions of those pushing for the cashless poker machines, the crooks will still have that money burning a hole in their pocket.

Sure the problem gamblers will find it harder to bet or explain their addiction to family and friends but, if what the NSW Crime Commission tells us is true, and it spent 12 months looking into the problem, most of the money is from crooks spending their money, not laundering it.

“A 2018 Canadian study found that it would take approximately 40 uninterrupted hours to load $1 million cash into an Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) using a variety of denominations. Consistent with the Canadian study, the findings of the Inquiry show that it is possible to clean low values of the proceeds of crime through EGMs, but cleaning larger values (over $5000) via EGMs is time consuming and inefficient. The movement of $1 million of dirty cash via a cryptocurrency dealer can occur within seconds,’’ the Crime Commission report states.

Premier Dominic Perrottet staunchly supported the move to cashless gaming.

It cited example after example of criminals telling them they were just hopeless gamblers addicted to poker machines.

The move to cashless cards linked to bank accounts and identification will stop many of them spending their illegal money legally.

I’m pretty sure they won’t be donating it to charity.

It wouldn’t surprise me and big punters I have spoken to if we started seeing illegal casinos flourish again because crooks being crooks will pounce on a way to exploit any change in the law for their own sake.

The crackdown on sports betting accounts has already seen the emergence of the “Cyber SP bookie’’ among some of the biggest names in the industry via a WhatsApp group.

“The same will happen with that pokies money,’’ said an underworld source and gambler.

“I wouldn’t want to own a pub in the next couple of years … they will be hurt. Who knows, two-up schools might make a comeback,’’ he said.

Criminals will find another way to spend their cash if they can’t do it at poker machines, writes Mark Morri.

He even suggested that some enterprising criminals will try to get hold of poker machines on the black market, operate underground pokie dens and move them around to avoid detention.

Sydney already has a circuit of big-time illegal poker games which have been going on for years but with some of the city’s seedier characters taking part.

One was a well known money launderer, Peter Houng, who was murdered after he was rumoured to have lost $6 million at illegal card games instead of laundering the money through the casino like he was supposed to for a well-known bikie and drug importer.

While the government and opposition fall over themselves to appease the anti-gambling groups, they should consider what the knock-on effect will be which could see the return to the days of illegal casinos and two-up schools.

Some say it might return some colour to the city — but not the way we want it.