A lifetime ban on money launderers is being proposed to clean up NSW venues

Club owners have outlined a bold plan to crack down on criminals using poker machines to launder dirty money.

Suspected money launderers could face lifetime bans from NSW clubs, under a suite of new rules being proposed to police and government by industry peak body ClubsNSW.

Under the rules, the state police commissioner would have the power to issue those reasonably suspected of using pokie machines to launder money with an exclusion order from NSW venues.

ClubsNSW is also calling for better collaboration with law enforcement and access to alerts from the state government’s Centralised Monitoring System (CMS) which connects all pokie machines in NSW.

Chief executive Josh Landis said under current regulations, venues owners’ hands were tied in dealing with those suspected of wrongdoing.

“At present, clubs are prevented by federal law from banning members for acting suspiciously in our venues, as it would constitute a ‘tipping-off’ offence,” Mr Landis said.

Clubs NSW is calling for better collaboration with law enforcement to tackle money launderers. Image: Supplied

“We want to work with police and regulators to identify criminals so that we can ban them from our venues for life.”

Other suggested measures include establishing a joint industry-police task force on money laundering, requiring digital entry for all gaming venues and creating a secure process for clubs to tip-off police if they see someone acting suspiciously.

Clubs reps also want to establish a centralised payment register that could be provided to law enforcement to monitor if any person has had multiple big “wins” in a given period.

“Sign-in and other requirements mean you would have to be a fool to try to launder money in a club, but we all must do more to retain the community’s confidence,” Mr Landis said.

“We are calling on state and federal governments to give clubs the tools to prevent money laundering.”