The NSW Crime Commission’s Inquiry into Money Laundering via Electronic Gaming Machines in Hotels and Clubs has found that New South Wales has become the ‘gambling capital of Australia’, with $95 billion in cash annually flowing through pokies in licensed venues.
In its report, the commission also found that large sums of the proceeds of crime “are being gambled by criminals in pubs and clubs across the state”.
“It is deeply concerning peculiarity that in the largely cashless digital economy in which we live, gambling in NSW pubs and clubs remains a $95 billion-a-year information black hole. Clearly, that cannot be allowed to continue”, The NSW Crime Commissioner Michael Barnes said.
Introducing mandatory cashless gaming card
On 6 February 2023, the NSW Liberal-National Government launched a plan to make every gambling machine in NSW cashless by 31 December 2028, by introducing a mandatory cashless gaming card and stronger data collection measures—with the legislation to follow. It has described the move as “landmark changes [which] will see one of the biggest gambling reforms ever undertaken in Australia”. On the other hand, Labor supported only one recommendation from the eight-recommendation report.
Premier Dominic Perrottet was instrumental in driving this push, despite mounting criticism from all sides of politics. He has indicated his support for “the maximum daily spending cap on a poker machine.”
The NSW Government’s move comes in response to the NSW Crime Commissions report, released on 26 October last year, which has found that “criminals are funnelling billions of dollars of ‘dirty’ cash through poker machines in pubs and clubs every year in NSW, but there are no effective controls or data collection to identify or prosecute those involved.”
What does this reform entail?
An independent Transition Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, will be established by April 2023. Its main mission is to eliminate money laundering activities from pubs and clubs by helping them transition to cashless gaming cards.
The NSW Government will support the transition plan and make observational and gradual progress towards the transition.
Regional exemptions for the plan are currently expected.
If elected in March, Opposition Leader Chris Minns said that he would establish a taskforce to oversee a trial of the new technology to collect more information about the gaming venues and their patrons.
NSW Labor also said that it will “expand political donation bans to include the clubs’ sector.”