ClubsNSW chief Josh Landis fired for swipe at Dominic Perrottet

ClubsNSW chief executive Josh Landis has been fired, just hours after he apologised for saying Dom­inic Perrottet’s gambling ­reform was motivated by his ‘Catholic gut’.

ClubsNSW chief executive Josh Landis has been sacked. Picture: Jonathan Ng

ClubsNSW chief executive Josh Landis has been fired, just hours after he apologised for saying Dom­inic Perrottet’s gambling ­reform was motivated by his “Catholic gut”.

The state’s clubs lobby released a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying Mr Landis’s position had been terminated after he was quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald as saying the NSW Premier’s faith was disabling him from taking on board the evidence on pokies machines.

“Clubs NSW has met today to discuss comments made by CEO Josh Landis yesterday. After consideration, the board made the decision to end Mr Landis’s employment with ClubsNSW with immediate effect,” the statement said. “The board acknowledges Josh Landis’s exemplary service to the industry over more than 15 years through very difficult times.”

The sacking came after Mr Landis – an adviser to the NSW Labor government between 2005 and 2007 – offered an unreserved apology, saying he had “misspoke” and should “not have referred to the Premier’s faith”.

“This was not a premeditated comment or intentional attack on the Premier personally,” he said. “Rather it was a poor attempt to explain there is a lack of evidence for the policy and the Premier is a moral person who intrinsically wants to help those who are causing themselves harm.”

Mr Perrottet said Mr Landis’s comments were “incredibly in­appropriate and offensive”, saying if he had been of “Islamic, Jewish or Hindu” faith, the ClubsNSW boss would have been forced to resign by Tuesday morning.

“The decision I’ve made, and the views I have in relation to gaming in NSW, is not informed by the fact I’m Catholic. It’s because I believe this is the right thing to do,” he told 2GB radio.

“It’s an attack on every single person of faith in this country.”

Mr Landis had claimed the Premier was struggling to convince Coalition colleagues of the merits of his gambling reform because he did not appreciate the complexity of the issue involved.

“I think it’s fair to say the Premier has very little understanding of this issue and has acted from his conservative Catholic gut rather than based on evidence,” he said. “What he’s done is create hyper-anxiety among the industry and among people who go to clubs, and hyper-excitement among those who want reform.”

Mr Perrottet has embarked on a campaign to reform the 86,568 poker machines across NSW clubs and pubs by implementing a cashless gaming card in line with the recommendations of the state’s crime commission report.

He had faced resistance from ClubsNSW, which argued the merits of a gaming card were untested and could cause economic damage on the sector.

On Monday, ClubsNSW released its own code to deal with problem gamblers, including rolling out facial recognition technology to prevent excluded patrons and criminals from using pokies.

As he welcomed the initiative, Mr Perrottet said the government needed to do everything to reduce problem gambling in NSW.

Just seven weeks out from the state election, the Premier is yet to detail what his much-vaunted reform will look like. “We will respond to the crime commission report shortly and you’ll see the detail in it,” he said on Monday.

ClubsNSW has not named a successor to Mr Landis.