Punters at Star Sydney and Crown Barangaroo will be able to gamble with up to $5000 in cash for a year longer than intended after last-minute changes to casino law in NSW that will also delay The Star’s deadline to transition its poker machines to carded play.
A spokesman for Gaming Minister David Harris confirmed on Thursday that The Star and Crown Resorts would be able to accept $5000 in cash per customer each day for another 12 months instead of being limited to $1000 from Monday. The reprieve was flagged last week as looming.
Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris has softened looming restrictions on the state’s casinos to give them more time to prepare for the crackdown. Credit: Nikki Short
The spokesperson also confirmed the minister had agreed to extend The Star’s deadline to roll out mandatory carded play across its operations for another month – until October 19 – after a request from its newly minted chief executive, Steve McCann.
“In recognition of the practical difficulties encountered by both casino operators in implementing technology changes for cashless gaming and carded play, the NSW government has agreed to transitional arrangements so that both can address any issues and meet the requirements as swiftly as possible,” Harris’ spokesperson said on Thursday evening.
The original carded play deadline and $1000 cash limit was legislated in the NSW Casino Control Act after serious breaches of the Anti-money Laundering and Counterterrorism Financing Act across The Star and Crown’s broader operations, which resulted in both groups losing their right to independently operate their casinos.
But last month, all machines across The Star’s three casinos in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast were switched off after a planned upgrade to prepare for the carded rollout failed. Crown Resorts, which does not have poker machines in NSW, said its operations were ready to comply with the original legislation. Crown has already transitioned its Melbourne operations to mandate carded play at great expense and has experienced a fall in casino revenue since rejecting cash.
The decision is a well-timed win for The Star, which is due to report its financial results at the end of this month and has already issued a sombre earnings downgrade due to poor foot traffic across its casinos.
Under the new plan, The Star will mandate carded play from Monday in all VIP gaming areas and across its tables, but its 1500 poker machines will be able to accept cash for another month.
Harris’ spokesperson said that although it was important to address gambling harm and prevent money laundering, the nature of the transition required was “complex” and involved “the development and testing of new technology in real-world settings”.
“Our allowance of a transitional period will enable any technical difficulties and live risks to be addressed,” the spokesperson said.
Mandated carded play has not been imposed on the state’s pubs and clubs, which operate 98 per cent of poker machines in NSW.
Instead, 28 of 400 venues signed up 4500 machines to participate in a voluntary cashless trial in December. Sources familiar with the trial confirmed this participation rate has fallen in the months since, but Liquor and Gaming NSW did not respond to this masthead’s request for an exact breakdown of the participation rate.
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