The public is invited to have its say on two new schemes that fulfill election commitments and build on the Minns Labor Government's delivery of gaming reforms to address gambling harm and money laundering while supporting a thriving hospitality industry.
From today the community can give feedback on consultation papers for a proposed third-party exclusion scheme and proposed mandatory facial recognition technology to support a statewide exclusion register for NSW hotels and clubs with gaming machines.
Facial recognition technology will support gambling harm-minimisation by removing the guesswork of staff identifying excluded patrons, often in crowded venues. There would still need to be human interaction to verify the match made by the system. Currently, the list of excluded patrons and images that venue staff need to memorise can be difficult to manage.
The Government is building strict parameters into the reforms to protect people's privacy to ensure hotels and clubs can only use facial recognition for the purpose of identifying excluded patrons. Venues will be prohibited from using the technology for customer tracking, surveillance and marketing purposes.
The Government is also delivering on its election commitment to introduce a third-party exclusion scheme that would allow family, friends and venues to apply to ban someone experiencing significant gambling harm.
Research estimates that more than a million Australians experienced harm in the past year because of another person's gambling.
It is proposed the minimum period for an exclusion order would be 12 months, with a maximum period of two or three years, with a temporary exclusion of 21 days while an application is considered.
In addition to the consultation papers, the Government has also developed a draft facial recognition Code of Practice that gives pubs and clubs already operating the technology guidelines to support identification of self-excluded patrons.
The code has been developed over several rounds of consultation with government, industry and community stakeholders, including cyber security and privacy experts.
The Independent Panel for Gaming Reform provided advice on considerations for third party exclusion and facial recognition technology in its Roadmap Report. The issues raised in this advice were incorporated in both discussion papers.
These measures are the latest in a suite of reforms introduced by the Minns Labor Government to reduce gambling harm, delivering more in 22 months than the previous government did in 12 years, including:
- reducing the cash input limit from $5,000 to $500 for all new gaming machines;
- reducing the state-wide cap on gaming machine entitlements by approximately 3,000;
- banning political donations from clubs with electronic gaming machines;
- banning external gaming-related signage, and internal gaming-related signage that can be seen from outside the venue;
- requiring that venues with more than 20 gaming machine entitlements have a Responsible Gambling Officer on duty while poker machines are in operation;
- mandating that venues keep an updated Gaming Plan of Management and a Gaming Incident Register;
- banning the placement of any signage or advertising relating to gaming machines either on, or visible from an ATM or EFTPOS terminal with cash withdrawal facilities;
- announcing a ban on gaming advertising from public transport; and
- establishing the Independent Panel for Gaming Reform and commissioning its roadmap report, which the Government is considering.
The Third-Party Exclusion Consultation Paper is available here: https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/third-party-exclusion-pubs-and-clubs and Facial Recognition Technology in Pubs and Clubs Consultation Paper is available here: https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/facial-recognition-technology. The consultation period will close on 14 March 2025.
Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris said:
"The Minns Labor Government is committed to addressing gambling harm through evidence-based policy and it's important that we get the balance right.
"Third-party exclusions are designed to help those experiencing gambling harm and their loved ones when other avenues to seek help may have failed.
"It recognises the physical, psychological, emotional and financial flow-on effects of gambling on a person's family and friends.
"This is complex reform which is why we are seeking feedback on a range of issues.
"Facial recognition will also be an important harm-minimisation tool by providing another way to identify excluded patrons in crowded venue environments, which can often be challenging for venue staff.
"I encourage everyone to have their say on these important harm-minimisation measures."
