Daniel Andrews open to cashless cards for Victorian pokies

Daniel Andrews says he is open to a major reform that would change the way people play poker machines in Victoria.

NSW will roll out cashless electronic gaming statewide by 2028.

Victoria is under pressure to follow NSW in reforming pokies with cashless cards, with Premier Daniel Andrews flagging that he was open to considering changes.

Anti-gambling advocates this week welcomed a commitment from NSW Premier Dom Perottet to roll out cashless electronic gaming across all of the state’s machines by 2028.

The NSW Opposition have also pledged tighter regulations but want to start with a 12-month trial of a cashless system.

Both parties have put forward to improve the industry after the state’s crime commission found criminals were using pokies to wash billions in dirty cash.

But Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Reverend Tim Costello, said Victoria needed to follow suit to address the same problems.

While cashless gaming has been enforced at Crown Casino, this accounts for 10 per cent of the state’s machines and authorities have warned money laundering could spill over to pubs and clubs.

“Mr Andrews was rightly crowing about Crown’s pokies now having limits, a cap and a cashless card,” Rev Costello said.

“But if that isn’t extended to all pokies, the crime and the gambling harm just moves.

“The criminal cash will just come here, we would become the criminal mecca.

Daniel Andrews says he is open to considering the reform. Picture: David Crosling

“The truth is that we in Victoria have never had the equivalent of the NSW crime commission that showed billions in dirty money.

“Why would it be any different here?”

In September last year, the Australian Federal Police charged three people over an alleged money laundering scheme using pokies in Springvale.

Mr Costello said rolling out a universal cashless card system would be much less costly in Victoria because the state’s machines were already fitted with the electronic YourPlay precommitment scheme.

When asked about the issue, Premier Daniel Andrews did not commit to any changes but said he was open to considering them.

“I wouldn’t say that we’re vehemently opposed to reforming that sector,” he said.

“We’ve always been about trying to make sure that for that small percentage of Victorians who have a gambling problem, we provide support and we minimise the harm done to them any way we possibly can.

“There’s a raft of different reforms and measures and rule changes that have been made by Labor governments.

“I wouldn’t rule out changes in this area. This industry has been in almost constant change.”

Opposition leader John Pesutto said the Victorian Liberals had no plans to match the NSW proposal.

“We have a very different system and culture in Victoria. It’s not perfect, but it’s not NSW,” he said.

“We’ll obviously observe what’s going on around the country with great interest. But we don’t have any plans for that.

“There are always challenges in this era of policy, and we need to do a lot more wherever we can to curb the scourge of addiction to gambling and reliance on that and the damage that it does to households,” he said.

“But there are other ways to do this … (and we’ll) watch what’s happening in New South Wales over the coming months and years with interest.”