Dominic Perrottet reveals cashless gaming cards will have limits

NSW Premier Premier Dominic Perrottet’s much-contested cashless gaming card will have spending limits.

Perrottet’s decision to pursue a cashless gaming card comes shortly after the NSW Crime Commission recommended the reform after releasing a report in October that revealed that poker machines were used in money laundering.

Since announcing the proposal, there has been significant opposition from parties such as Kevin Anderson, the Hospitality Minister, and Nationals MP. Earlier this year, he stated that he was against the government’s control of the cashless gaming card and making the reform compulsory.

There are not many details concerning the proposal; however, Perrottet will reportedly submit it to the cabinet before the March election. Cashless gaming cards will be made mandatory in 2024, with Tasmania being the first state it will be launched in.

On Friday, the premier stated that he was “certainly attracted” to including spending limits in the proposal. The gambling card will have a daily limit of $100 and $500 per month. Gamblers will also be given a $5000 spending limit yearly.

“You can’t have a cashless system without limits. That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Perrottet said.

David Elliott, NSW Transport and Veterans Minister and one of Perrottet’s senior Liberal ministers, opposed the poker machines reform, claiming that it would only serve to shift the problems associated with gambling somewhere else.

Elliott is en route to retiring from state politics at the election and has ties with the NSW Australian Hotels Association. On Friday, he also said that before he gave his support to the proposal, he needed to see proof that it was practiced and actually worked elsewhere in the world.

“What you’ll see is people just walking out of registered clubs and pubs and walking down the road and not putting the 20 bucks after bowls in a poker machine, but going … to the newsagency and buying 20 bucks worth of scratchies,” Elliott explained.

Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey recently supported Perrottet’s gambling reform, saying that “time for talk is over … pokies reform should be a no-brainer for politicians of all stripes.”

Besides Morey, several other dignitaries, including anti-gambling advocate Tim Costello, Karen Webb, the NSW Police Commissioner, as well as leading charities, churches, and Health Services Union and United Workers Union NSW, have expressed their support for the cashless gaming card.

On Friday, Matt Kean, NSW treasurer, gave his first speech publicly concerning the reform. There he reiterated Perrottet’s statement about the cashless gaming card being the right move and asked that NSW Labor leader Chris Minns make a decision.

Minns is yet to support the poker machine reform and demanded earlier that a trial be held to determine if the gaming cards would affect pubs and clubs.

“The premier has been absolutely clear that cashless gaming cards are the way forward, and the only stakeholders here that matter are communities across NSW who will be protected by these policies,” Kean stated.

“I don’t know who’s calling the tune for the leader of the opposition, but he needs to listen to people like Mark Morey from Unions NSW who realize the importance of cashless gaming.”

The Returned Services League’s national president has also supported the poker machine reform. He explained that new reforms were needed to curb the use of the RSL names by clubs that were unprepared to “stick to certain guidelines and ethical practices”.

According to Greg Melick, SC, criminals had illegally used poker machines in clubs which affected the RSL’s reputation nationally. Melick is the head of the national subsidiary of the peak charity supporting veterans. He was also previously a part of the National Crime Authority.

“Even though we have no control [over clubs], people just see our name and assume it is us and think we are encouraging such activity,” he explained.

He clarified that the RSL national board was yet to form a position on the matter; hence his comments were in a personal capacity.

“I support the [NSW] government’s approach. My view is that cashless gaming is a sensible approach,” Melick said.

Since the 1970s, when legislation was drawn up to separate RSL NSW and its sub branches, neither have owned nor managed registered clubs. While RSL NSW allowed the clubs to register their trading brand as “RSL” decades ago, Ray James, the organization’s president, revealed that gambling and society as a whole had changed since then.

“If any NSW-based RSL or Services club is not supporting their local RSL sub-branch and the good work our veteran volunteers do for other veterans in their community or the statewide veteran services provided by our subsidiary charity RSL LifeCare, then perhaps it is time that they considered a name change,” the RSL NSW president said.

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