Wesley Mission welcomes the release of the Roadmap for Gaming Reform today but is disappointed by some of the watered-down recommendations it contains.
While the Roadmap calls for the eventual introduction of a mandatory cashless gambling card by 2028, it does not include a range of critical and evidence-based harm minimisation measures that Wesley Mission has been calling for over the last two years.
"It's time for the government to recognise the enormous cost of gambling harm requires a public health response. Like regulating tobacco, it's time to put the enormous profits of gambling operators second to the wellbeing of the community", says Wesley Mission CEO Rev Stu Cameron
"New South Wales remains in the grip of a growing gambling harm crisis, fuelled primarily by the state's 87,000 poker machines.
"For a cashless system to meet both the urgent needs to address money laundering through poker machines, and reduce gambling harm, it needs to be a universal cashless system with harm minimisation measures built in, such as binding maximum daily, weekly and yearly loss limits.
"The pre-implementation testing here in NSW has shown that a mandatory cashless system is necessary, and that the technology to achieve this exists and works well. This is backed up further by the successful implementation of cashless gambling at Crown in Melbourne, where more than 400,000 customers have reportedly signed up.".
The 4th Edition of Wesley Mission's Community Attitudes to Gambling Reform Report, released last month, revealed 72% of 1000 respondents indicating they had no reservations about the introduction of a universal, cashless gambling card for poker machines with mandatory harm minimisation measures built in.
"We're very disappointed that the Roadmap Report does not recommend a reduction in the opening hours for gambling rooms in pubs and clubs. We have been pushing for poker machines to be switched off between midnight and 10am, based on the clear evidence that significantly increased levels of gambling harm is experienced by people using poker machines in the early hours of the morning," says Rev Cameron.
"The introduction of this reform would have only a small impact on the gambling industry but have an immediate impact on reducing gambling harm in NSW. Our recent survey indicated 82% public support across NSW for this reform".
Wesley Mission is pleased that the NSW Government is progressing with the implementation of an independent, state-wide Self Exclusion Register.
"This is another reform we have been calling for over the last two years. The current self-exclusion system in NSW is broken, and a state-wide system is long overdue. It is essential though that the operation of the system remains independent of the gambling industry.
Wesley Mission was a member of the NSW Independent Panel for Gambling Reform which met from August 2023 until November 2024. The final recommendations of the Panel were drafted by the Panel's Executive members and provided to the NSW Minister for Gaming and Racing in late November.
