Casino-style games to hit NSW clubs
NSW State Parliament has passed legislative changes to ease restrictions on casino-style games in small clubs across the state.
The modifications are limited to clubs with 33 or fewer poker machine entitlements, totalling 690 clubs across NSW.
The variations allow for electronic roulette and blackjack machines to be installed in small clubs, with bet limits of $100 – ten times the allowed amount for poker machines. These new machines allow for up to five players to compete at once against an electronic dealer in an innovation called a ‘multi-terminal gaming machine’.
The new machines are potentially more profitable but simultaneously more dangerous for problem gamblers, according to gambling expert Dr Christopher Hunt. He believes that the social setting encourages competitive, masculinised gambling patterns.
“I would vehemently dispute that they are safer than poker machines,” said Dr Hunt, adding that men, migrants, pensioners and white-collar workers were at considerably higher risk to develop gambling problems.
NSW Greens MLC John Kaye said the move had “committed NSW to street corner casinos” by easing regulations.
“Multiple terminal machines provide another avenue for problem gamblers to lose money. Labor and Coalition governments have engaged in ineffective measures to combat problem gambling, often administered by clubs themselves. These regulations need to change,” he said.
Australians spend almost $12 billion annually on poker machines, with 75 per cent of problem gamblers poker machine regulars.
State Minister for Hospitality, George Souris, said the legislative changes “implemented a government election commitment contained in its Memorandum of Understanding with ClubsNSW, and will not increase the number of machines authorised in an individual club or within NSW”.
“It amends the Gaming Machines Act 2001 to allow small clubs with a maximum of 33 gaming machine entitlements to substitute up to five gaming machine entitlements for an equivalent number of multi-terminal gaming machine player terminals,” he said.
State MPs were advised by the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) that that due to the longer play cycle of the new machines, less money would be gambled away.
The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority denote an area’s risk of fostering problem gambling through a three-tiered classification system.
Randwick is a band two council, meaning they have moderate poker machine density, moderate gaming expenditure and moderate socio-economic status. Randwick is also the area with the highest concentration of eligible clubs with 15.
Randwick and Waverley councils are considered to have a high-risk level of developing problem gamblers, while the City of Sydney is at extreme risk. A 2011 OLGR report found coastal Sydney regions had the highest incidence of non-gamblers.
By Joshua Tassell
