Pokies reform battle heating up in NSW

New South Wales, the pokie machines capital of Australia, might be on its way to implementing serious reforms concerning gambling machines; however, people expect little to change.

The outgoing minister Rob Stokes gave his final speech in the state’s parliament and, in doing so, made a last-ditch effort to push for pokies reform in NSW.

Stokes gave two high-powered speeches where the minister blasted the clubs sector’s power and said the yearly influx of the $3.8 billion pokies revenue has rendered it “distorted and disfigured”. He also asked for the instalment of cashless gambling cards to help people out of their addiction to poker machines.

“If a cashless gaming card can help liberate a few people from their enslavement to poker machines, then it is the least we can do for the people of New South Wales,” Stokes said.

The minister asked that an overhaul of the donation laws in NSW be carried out. The new laws should include clubs lobbying among the number of banned donors. Stokes’ speeches come at a time NSW seems to finally be on its way to carrying out serious reforms on poker machines in the state.

Problem gambling is on the rise in NSW, and as a result, the government has been forced to direct its efforts to the pokies habit of the state. A coalition of social and religious groups created a new campaign this month to push for reform.

Wesley Mission, one of the largest community organizations in Australia, is a part of the movement. The organization estimated that in the past three decades, gamblers in NSW have lost around $135 billion while playing poker machines.

While there is some motivation for the pokies reform at the highest level in the government, there is not much expectation that anything will change. According to ClubsNSW, the clubs’ chief lobby group, the policy would do more harm than good. They further stated that reform would result in several job losses around the state.

ClubsNSW held a similar opinion for using facial recognition technology to address problem gambling. The technology was to spot and refuse an underage person or a reported problem gambler access to a poker machine. ClubsNSW ended up backtracking and endorsing the measure. A possible backlash from the lobby is, however, sufficient in reducing a significant chunk of support for the gambling machine reform.

Dominic Perrottet, the Coalition premier, has repeatedly stated his intention to introduce the cashless gaming card. This was shortly after a Crime Commission report noted the amount of criminal money laundering carried out in hotels and clubs.

READ: NSW cracking down on money laundering through pokies

Concerning their gambling reform intent, Stokes and Perrottet are part of the minority in the government. A number of MPs support the implementation of the reform; however, even more think of the cashless gaming card idea as a paternalistic one. They also think of it as a dubiously effective solution in handling problem gambling.

The opinion is similar on the Labor side. Chris Minns, the opposition leader, revealed that he was cautious of the idea but supported an expanded trial of the cashless gambling card. Minns recently showed his displeasure at the pressure to face the club’s lobby a few months after an election that the party thought was a great chance to enter the government for the first time in 10 years.

Meredith Burgmann, a notable figure in the Labor left and the previous president of the NSW parliament upper house, explained that although a significant amount is gotten via the donations by the club’s lobby to the major parties, there was a much more complicated situation going on.

“It’s not about donations – it’s about the fear of political backlash,” Burgmann explained.

“It’s a complex relationship. MPs will have used the local club a hundred times for community events. And people do love their local club because that’s where they go to eat and to socialize. And they support the local sporting clubs. If they decide to run a campaign against you, they can rely on thousands of community members to be quite active about it.”

Burgmann made mention of several similar battles which took place in the Carr era. She recalled back in 2003 when the Labor government attempted to increase the taxes placed on poker machines’ revenue. Burgmann described the reaction as “swift and brutal”. She also said that MPs could be seen on the two sides “losing the will to take them on”.

The fear, or a close version of it, is still alive and is strengthened by several issues with the lobby. One of these issues occurred in 2012 in the failed attempt by the Gillard government to implement a compulsory pre-commitment proposal. However, the issue was kept aside after a marginal seat campaign by Clubs Australia.

Burgmann said, “I don’t think it’s a fight MPs of either side want to have again.”

The first time the cashless gaming card was proposed was two years ago by Victor Dominello, the gaming minister at the time, and he faced backlash from the two sides. Perrottet moved him out of the portfolio due to pressure from ClubsNSW.

The Nationals party unanimously opposed the policy, and former Labor leader Michael Daley did not have a different opinion. He compared it to the known ill-fated attempt by Mike Baird to ban greyhound racing.

An inspection of places poker machine revenue concentrated revenue that was a significant amount where areas that Labor MPs have seats. Out of the highest 10 local government areas for poker machines shares, only Penrith and Lake Macquarie were not in a seat significantly held by Labor.

An MP in Labor holding a western Sydney seat said the reform was not viewed as an important movement within the party. He also said he was not certain those who approve of it have power against the rest.

“There’s absolutely a recognition we need to do something about problem gambling. But I don’t think, first, that anyone is convinced this is it, and second, that we can do much about it from opposition,” the MP said.

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