The beginning of the week saw the Labour Party in New South Wales (NSW) unveil plans for major gambling reforms in the state. NSW Labour shared that it intends to hold a 12-month trial of proposed cashless gaming cards and suspend the controversial practice of gambling operators providing financial support to political parties and individuals should it win the state election in March 2023.
Any signage that advertises poker machines outside local venues would also be suspended under a decision of a Labour Government. In addition, the political party plans to unveil self-exclusion registers, which scale would be expanded in order to implement facial recognition technology.
Chris Minns, the leader of the opposition, unveiled the plans on January 16th following weeks of uncertainty due to disagreements and discussions with the local Government on the best way of tackling money laundering practices through pokies and reducing gambling addiction rates in the state.
The leader of the NSW Labour Party has resisted the proposal of Premier Dominic Perrottet to introduce proposed cashless gaming cards, requiring the provision of more evidence about the way how the system would operate. Mr Minns shared that the evidence-based approach was extremely important in order to guarantee that any legislative measures in terms of the regulated gambling industry would work properly without any unwanted consequences.
NSW Labour Party to Unveil 12-Month Trial for Proposed Cashless Gambling Card as of July 2023
In case the Labour Party wins the March 2023 election, it would unveil a 12-month trial of the cashless gaming cards starting in July 2023. The trial is set to be held in a limited number of venues involving no less than 500 poker machines, also known as pokies, across regional and metro areas. Furthermore, the trial would be mandatory for the venues that take part in the scheme and would be monitored by an independent panel, including academics, gambling and health experts, representatives of law enforcement authorities, and the industry.
The leader of the NSW Labour Party revealed that an AU$100-million fine paid by Star Casino is planned to be spent on reimbursing the venues participating in the trial for any loss of revenue caused as a result of the trial. On the other hand, the planned suspension of the Labour Party accepting donations from any clubs offering poker machines would take immediate effect and would become law under a Labour Government.
But that is not all. The party also announced that it plans to introduce cash feed-in limits of AU$500 on all new poker machines as of July 2023 should it win the next election in the state.
As revealed by Mr Minns, the plan presented by the Labour Party was based on recommendations by the NSW Crime Commission and on evidence, and the policy was unanimously backed by the shadow cabinet.
Cate Faermann, a Greens MP, commented on the recently unveiled policy of the Labour Party, saying that the trial was unnecessary and was only designed to make the political party look good and to make sure the proposed cashless gambling card fail. She further explained that money launderers and gambling addicts would simply avoid venues that participate in the trial, showing a significant revenue loss for participating businesses.
- Author
Daniel Williams
