The Minns government says it is delivering on a key election commitment with its latest tranche of gaming reforms, giving people and families stronger protections against gambling harm and tightening the rules concerning gambling promotion and marketing.
The government says the tranche of reforms announced today are evidence-based and include a statewide exclusion register with mandatory facial recognition technology at the entry of gaming rooms, a third-party exclusion scheme in hotels and clubs, an increased forfeiture rate of 1 in 2, (from 1 in 3) and the end of VIP programs related to gaming.
It will also ban gambling advertising on all NSW hovernment and council-owned assets, ban unsolicited direct marketing to potential customers, and establish a state-based strategy to reduce online gambling harm.
Problem gambling
Gambling harm doesn’t stop with the person sitting at the poker machine or online. It can mean bills going unpaid, savings disappearing and enormous pressure being placed on partners, children and families.
According to the NSW Gambling Survey 2024, 3.1 per cent of the adult population experience moderate risk gambling, while 0.9 per cent experience high risk gambling – and for them, and their families it can ruin their lives.
These reforms aim to put harm minimisation at the heart of the gaming system, making it easier for people to stop, giving families more options to intervene and putting stronger safeguards around gambling in NSW.
Pokies
Currently, NSW has around 87,000 poker machines across some 2,100 clubs and hotels. While the number of gaming machine entitlements has steadily declined over the past three years, these reforms will help accelerate that reduction and ensure that when entitlements are removed from circulation, they are removed permanently.
The NSW government will increase the forfeiture rate when gaming machine entitlements are traded from one in three to one in two – meaning for every two entitlements traded, one will be permanently removed.
It will also introduce a new ‘sinking cap’ so the statewide cap falls as entitlements are removed from circulation and tighten existing exemptions that allowed entitlements to be transferred without forfeiture, while giving venues the option to voluntarily cancel their entitlements.
Statewide exclusion register
For the first time in NSW, people who choose to exclude themselves from gambling will be able to do so through a single statewide register covering every hotel and club with gaming machines.
Currently in NSW, people can enter into a voluntary self-exclusion agreement to ban themselves from the gaming areas of certain hotels and clubs or from the entire venue. However, the enforcement of this is largely left up to individual venues and staff to monitor compliance.
In a significant change, the new NSW Statewide Exclusion Register will replace this fragmented system with a single statewide framework backed by mandatory facial recognition technology at the entry of gaming rooms – meaning when someone makes the difficult decision to exclude themselves, that exclusion can follow them from venue to venue.
It will also support NSW Police efforts to prevent gaming machines being used for money laundering and other criminal activity.
Mandatory Facial Recognition will be introduced at the same time as the NSW State Exclusion Register in 2028, helping venues identify people who have excluded themselves and ensure those exclusions are enforced.
Account-based play
As part of a staged approach, the government says it will put in place the necessary infrastructure to facilitate future account-based play. Account-based play is a model that enables a person to use a registered account to play a poker machine, rather than gambling anonymously. However, a significant proportion of gaming machine infrastructure rely on legacy technology.
The government will upgrade the Centralised Monitoring System (CMS) over the next two years to allow for a transition to this technology, which would better allow venues to enable account-based play at their discretion.
Rapid advancements in technology since the Cashless Gaming Trial have demonstrated there are many account-based play solutions that can be implemented to meet the anti-money laundering and harm minimisation benefits of cashless, while allowing players to continue using cash if they prefer.
Broader harm minimisation
The NSW Gaming Reform package is also designed to strengthen protections against harmful gambling advertising and marketing, including banning VIP programs linked to gaming, prohibiting gambling advertising on NSW government and council-owned assets, and addresses unwanted direct marketing by outlawing betting service providers to market directly to people via calls, email or text messages without receiving their express consent in advance.
New transparency requirements will apply to gambling promotions by affiliates and social media influencers, alongside restrictions on commissions linked to higher-risk gambling products.
The government says it is committed to developing a NSW strategy to reduce online gambling harm and strengthen enforcement against betting providers and illegal gambling platforms, with new offences, tougher penalties and stronger regulatory powers.
The latest suite of reforms have been developed in response to issues raised in a number of key reports, including the Roadmap for Gaming Reform prepared by the Independent Panel for Gaming Reform, the Crime Commission Inquiry into Money Laundering via Electronic Gaming Machines in hotels and clubs, and consultation with stakeholders and the broader community.
Investment in future
The Minns government says it is investing $95.2 million over four years to fund this next tranche of reforms, sourced by the money remaining in the $100 million gambling harm minimisation fund and an increase in licence fees for clubs and hotels with gaming machines.
The government says it will also work with industry to support hotels and clubs to diversify their hospitality, events and live entertainment offerings to reduce their reliance on gaming machine revenue.
Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris said, ‘These are common sense reforms that have been developed alongside industry, harm minimisation groups, stakeholders and privacy experts to address gambling harm while supporting the industry and protecting the livelihoods of the many people it employs.
‘By combining new technology, stronger exclusion tools, strengthened regulation and increased funding for harm reduction, we are building a safer system for the future,’ he said.
‘Our government will continually explore and implement emerging technology to ensure NSW has the most up-to-date safety measures available built into our gambling industry.’
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