The New South Wales (NSW) Government has shared that a gambling policies reform package which was introduced earlier in 2018 has resulted in an increase in the local residents’ losses generated on poker machines, also known as pokies.
The changes in question were rolled out in March 2018. At the time they were rolled out, Paul Toole, the racing minister, described them as “the most significant set of reforms” brought to the gaming regulation of NSW in no less than a decade.
The gambling policies amendments were backed by the Government and the Labour Party, but it faced some opposition, too. Justin Field, MP of the Greens opposed the changes, saying that they would result in an increase of the losses generated on pokies because venues would be able to transfer poorly performing terminals to other facilities with higher revenue more easily under the amendments.
Now, the NSW Government has admitted that this, in fact, happened due to the changes brought to the gambling policy in March.
Dominic Perrottet, the Treasurer, revealed that new leasing arrangements are believed to contribute to the gaming revenue growth, amid a slower reduction in the number of pokies entitlements and increased intensity of use of existing poker machine entitlements.
Leasing Arrangements’ Impact Had Been Very Small, Clubs NSW Claims
According to projections, profits generated on pokies in NSW are expected to reach almost AU$7 billion by 2021, representing an increase surpassing 12% over the upcoming four years.
Mr. Field, one of the main opponents of the gambling legislation changes, commented that it was the first time the Government actually admitted that pokies are being particularly present into areas which have already been hurt by gambling and that industry profits are expected to increase.
The claims of Mr. Field, however, were rejected by Clubs NSW. A spokesman of Clubs NSW explained that according to Justin Field’s claims, the annual reduction in the number of machines will be effectively stopped thanks to the introduction of the new pieces of legislation. However, according to the Clubs NSW spokesman, the latest data unveiled by the state Government showed exactly the opposite thing, with a net decline of 256 gaming machines in NSW clubs over the past six months alone. He further added that as far as the Clubs NSW was informed, the Government had not approved any leasing arrangements for local clubs since the official introduction of the reform package. Only a number of such arrangements were approved for pubs, which basically meant that leasing’s impact had been very small.
On the other hand, a spokesman for the local racing minister explained that it was still too early to know what impact the new scheme would have on revenue, as it would depend on the number of gambling venues which get regulatory permission to lease their gaming machine entitlements. He further noted that the NSW Government has always been engaged with minimising gambling-related harm for venues which are being part of the scheme.
- Author
Daniel Williams
