NSW has hit record-high losses on poker machines, totalling over $8 billion in 2024.
The $8.64 billion loss shows a 6.3 per cent year-on-year increase to poker machines, according to data from Liquor and Gaming NSW.
Advocates like Wesley Mission CEO Stu Cameron say the NSW public are “in the grips of a preventable public health crisis”.
“It beggars belief that midway through the Government’s term, New South Wales operates in an even more chaotic, conflicting environment,” he said.
“There are more poker machines and record-breaking losses, resulting in a public health crisis of gambling harm.
“The government’s reforms appear to have achieved nothing in curbing the worsening crisis.
“This 6 per cent plus increase on 2023’s poker machine losses isn’t an anomaly. It is a direct result of a failure to implement reforms with real teeth.”
The government introduced a number of gambling reforms in 2023, including lowering the cap on gaming machine entitlements, a reduction in cash input limits on new poker machines from $5000 to $500 as well as the ban on external gambling signs.
Cameron said a move to a cashless gaming system and reduced operating hours for gambling rooms would cut losses.
He is calling for gaming rooms to be shut down between midnight and 12am.
”While it will take time to roll out a mandatory cashless card, we already know the technology works,” Cameron said.
“Last year’s pre-implementation testing reinforced it and the technology is already operational at Crown Casino in Sydney and Melbourne, with high take-up rates.
“Powering down poker machines in NSW from midnight to 10am is a reform that could be implemented quickly and would have an immediate impact on reducing the record levels of gambling harm now being experienced.”
