By Alexandra Smith and Lucy Cormack
Kingmaker independent MP Alex Greenwich will force the NSW government and the opposition to take a position on cashless gaming cards for poker machines ahead of the election as the crossbench pushes to make the cards mandatory in the state’s clubs.
A highly anticipated report from the powerful NSW Crime Commission this week found “a significant amount of money which is put through poker machines is the proceeds of crime”, including drug dollars, and called for the introduction of cashless gaming cards.
Cashless gaming cards could become an election issue for the Coalition and Labor.Credit: Nick Moir
In a move that will wedge the Coalition and Labor, Greenwich will amend a registered clubs bill before parliament to make cashless cards mandatory in clubs. He will have the backing of the other key crossbenchers Greg Piper and Joe McGirr, as well as the Greens.
Greenwich’s proposed changes to the bill will create a political headache for the government, which does not have enough seats in the lower house to pass legislation on its own, leaving the three independents critical to the Coalition.
Greenwich said cashless cards were being rolled out in casinos and it was critical that pubs and clubs did not become the default venues to wash dirty cash.
“The last thing we want is for the adoption of cashless gaming cards in casinos to shift more money laundering and problem gamblers to pubs and clubs. I’ll move to ensure cashless cards are adopted across the board in NSW,” Greenwich said.
Alex Greenwich will amend a registered clubs bill before parliament to make cashless cards mandatory in clubs.Credit: Brook Mitchell
“Are we more focused on revenue raising through pokies, or preventing lives being ruined by problem gambling?”
The government’s proposed bill seeks to allow the use of facial recognition in clubs, although Greenwich said the technology would do nothing to stop problem gamblers.
Facial recognition technology is backed by ClubsNSW, the powerful lobby group representing registered clubs, and the Australian Hotels Association (AHA).
“Facial recognition is not a harm minimisation tool,” Greenwich said. “It has been used in other countries to encourage gambling and reap profits from patrons without their consent. And even when used strictly to keep someone on an exclusion register out, it can only stop someone gambling after they have already lost considerably to gaming machines.”
The Greens’ spokeswoman for gambling Cate Faehrmann also opposes facial recognition technology, and will move an amendment to ban the use of the technology at all venues.
“ClubsNSW and the AHA are hailing facial recognition technology as a major step towards minimising gambling harm. In reality, they’ll do anything to avoid regulations that stop people gambling so much,” Faehrmann said.
“The government’s bill will lock in dangerous technology that will allow clubs to monitor poker machine users’ behaviour and increase the addictiveness of their poker machines. It’s already happening in other jurisdictions and this bill will ensure it can happen here too.”
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet on Thursday said he would not be waiting until after the election to act on the commission’s report, which he described as “damning”.
“I am not going to have criminal activity occurring in pubs and clubs across our state, it’s not happening, so I’ll work with the industry to fix it, and we’re going to fix it,” he said.
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns said it was a “very troubling report” but would not commit to supporting a cashless card.
“If you look at the statements from the industry yesterday – the AHA, ClubsNSW – both said that it would be cost prohibitive in relation to a cashless card,” Minns said.
“I’m not making a judgment about that. Obviously, that’s contested space.”
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