Broken Hill Council has said no to the cashless gambling card which opponents of poker machine gambling say should be implemented as soon as possible in a bid to halt problem gambling and put a stop to money laundering through some NSW clubs.
The call for the card stems from a NSW Crime Commission report that said organised criminals were laundering money through poker machines in some NSW clubs and pubs.
As we reported in our November 26 issue, over $7m sloshed through the Broken Hill region’s 272 pokies in five clubs during the first six months of this year alone, while gamblers in NSW lose more money per person annually than anywhere else in the world.
Against this backdrop, Mayor Tom Kennedy brought a Mayoral Minute (MM) – a device the Mayor can use to bring an item to the floor of the chamber – at this week’s council meeting calling for councillors to send a strong message to politicians that the card wasn’t wanted in Broken Hill.
Cllr Kennedy said the council should oppose the introduction of the card.
He says if the cards come in, three out of Broken Hill’s five large clubs could be forced to close.
He told fellow councillors he had brought the Mayoral Minute because of concerns raised to him by members of the public and some local registered clubs about the mandatory cashless gaming card proposed by the NSW Government.
In essence the proposed card is a prepaid card is linked to a person’s identity and is able to track a person’s spending on poker machines.
Poker machines would be unable to accept any other form of currency and would require an up-front cost in converting existing machines, if the cashless card came in.
Cllr Kennedy told councillors the registered clubs in Broken Hill had around 9000 members and contributed over $500,000 to the community.
“I support the government addressing problem gamblers but not at the expense of local communities and not at the expense of the clubs themselves that are so important to regional communities,” he said.
“We all acknowledge that problem gamblers affect families, it affects themselves, but the reality is, and there have been many studies that show, prohibition and cashless cards do not help.
“Similar programs have been introduced into both Canada and Norway, mandatory cashless cards, it just drove problem gamblers into illegal sites on the internet.
“The reality is that you must address the addiction. You can’t hide the addiction from people, it’s no different to drug addiction or any other addiction.
“The legislation that is proposed comes straight out of the crime commission, not because of concern about problem gamblers or anyone else it’s all about laundering of money.
“This is a way for the NSW government of shirking their responsibilities, the government is addicted to poker machine revenue.
“This has nothing to do with problem gamblers, this is about the NSW government tracking problem gamblers with data, it won’t stop one problem gambler.
“What the NSW Government needs to do is to redirect more money from the taxes they collect, which is significant, from gaming machines throughout NSW and contribute more money to reduce those problem gamblers.
“What it will do is cut revenue from our major licenced clubs in town by 30%.
“That means we will lose two out of our five current clubs, it’s that simple 30% is two of our clubs.
“We certainly don’t want to see that in a town like Broken Hill where pub numbers have already dropped to levels that are almost unsustainable for a city our size.
“If they were serious, they would reduce how much you lose per spin and then reduce NSW government gaming taxes. So collecting the amount of taxes that they are currently receive, and let’s not pretend any other way, that is both Labor and Coalition, they are not going to give up the taxes.
“The introduction of a mandatory card will result in part-time users of poker machines not using them.
“This might be people that put in $20 or $30 when they go out for a drink or have something to eat, they are not going to register for a card.
“We don’t want to see all those clubs that contribute a lot of money to all our organisations around the city [suffer].
“If we just use the Musos Club for example, they were able to purchase the Broken Hill cinema and keep that going for this city. If there was a 30% drop in revenue this would almost definitely result in the closure of the Broken Hill cinema,” Cllr Kennedy said.
Cllr Marion Browne did not support the Mayoral Minute, saying although she didn’t believe the cashless gaming card was the way to go, she would like to see more attention paid to the social implications of the gambling problem in the community.
She called for a report – before sending a letter to the politicians – on the social and economic effects of gambling on families in Broken Hill.
Councillor Jim Hickey said that he was totally in favour of the motion, though he did understand the point that Cllr Browne was making.
“I have done the RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) course and been involved in it and that is not going to stop it whether you do that or not,” Cllr Hickey said.
“The cashless thing would destroy a lot of sporting clubs, most sporting clubs survive here from money, the Musos, the Demo Club and the other clubs.
“I know a lot of that money comes from gambling and that is a problem, but club staff are trained to look out for people that have got problems and help them with the problem,” Cllr Hickey said.
The Mayoral Motion was carried and the Council will write to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, the leader of the NSW National Party Paul Toole, NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns, NSW Minister for Western NSW Dugald Saunders, and Barwon MP Roy Butler to say the council does not support the introduction of the mandatory cashless gaming card.
