By Harriet Alexander
Gamblers’ losses on poker machines in NSW have hit a record high, pubs and clubs pulling in a combined $8.64 billion in gaming revenue last year despite harm minimisation measures introduced by the Minns government.
The latest quarterly data from Liquor and Gaming NSW shows a 7 per cent increase in net gaming profit among pubs and clubs compared to the same period in 2023, and a 6.3 per cent increase for the full year – the steepest increase outside the COVID rebound in at least six years.
During 2023, the government introduced various gambling reform measures that included lowering the cap on gaming machine entitlements, a reduction in the cash input limit on new gaming machines from $5000 to $500 and a ban on external gambling signage.
Midway through 2024, it also became impermissible for venues to place any signage relating to poker machines within sight of ATMs, and compulsory for venues with more than 20 machine entitlements to employ responsible gambling officers.
But harm minimisation advocates say the government has stopped short of big reforms such as the introduction of mandatory gambling accounts with loss limits and powering down pokies between midnight and 10am, which are more likely to change behaviour of people with gambling problems and stop machines from being used to launder money.
Both measures have faced stiff resistance from pubs and clubs.
Wesley Mission’s chief executive Stu Cameron said the state was in the grip of a “preventable public health crisis”. It would take time to implement the type of account-based gambling that was recommended by the independent gambling reform panel last year, but reduced gambling machine opening hours could be done quickly and have an immediate impact, he said.
“This 6 per cent plus increase on 2023’s poker machine losses … is a direct result of a failure to implement reforms with real teeth,” Cameron said.
“The government needs to ask itself – are they here to serve the people of NSW or protect the profits of pubs and clubs?”
In the last three months of 2024, gamblers in NSW lost on average over $1 million an hour playing poker machines - or $24,601,472 a day.
Cameron said this “steep increase” in loses in the last 12 months was “deeply concerning”.
“There is no clear reason for this damaging rise though it is reasonable to assert that a ruthlessly efficient, harm causing industry continues to perfect their business models that wreak havoc across NSW,” Cameron said.
A spokesman for Gaming Minister David Harris said reducing gambling harm was fundamentally about changing behaviour, and the government was considering recommendations from the independent panel on gaming reform, which included cashless, account-based gaming.
“These are complex reforms to address gambling harm through evidence-based policy, that gets the balance right,” he said.
“We know it will take time for our reforms to show an impact.”