An expert report recommends banning a controversial feature on poker machines in NSW. Credit:AFR Among the issues to which the parties were "bound" was freezing tax rates on poker machine profits for clubs and a pledge to "retain existing gaming machine operating conditions, with proposed changes subject to a rigorous assessment including cost-benefit analysis and consultation". In other words, this extraordinary document virtually safeguards the clubs' most valuable asset, poker machines, from significant regulatory changes during the life of the government. One year earlier, the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing went out to tender for what promised to be an equally remarkable document: research into the harm caused by various types of gambling in NSW. The $263,000 tender was won by the University of Sydney's Gambling Treatment Clinic, which after some delays delivered its report to the government in December 2015.

You would think that having commissioned such valuable research, the government would be eager to share its findings and consider its regulatory position in light of any recommendations. But no. There it sat for two years, under wraps under the guise of "being considered by cabinet". It wasn't until racing minister Paul Toole released the report last Friday that we got a clue as to the likely reason. One of its key recommendations was to ban a poker machine feature known as "losses disguised as wins", whereby celebratory graphics and music are played when a player wins an amount, despite it being less than the amount staked. Experts say it is a significant contributor to poker machine addiction.

In other words, the report recommended a significant intervention in how poker machines are allowed to operate in NSW. Oops. The NSW government is faced with either heeding the advice of the experts in gambling harm minimisation or, if not, being seen to be more interested in protecting the profits of the giant club and pub industries. In its response to the report the government says it has "noted" the recommendation and will incorporate the "losses disguised as wins" issue in a broader review designed to develop a national approach to prohibited poker machine features. "The timing of the proposed review is to be determined," it added. Just as tellingly, the day the report was released Toole also announced "a new study into the prevalence of problem gambling".

He noted that previous similar studies in 2008 and 2011 "found the rate of problem gambling in NSW was stable at 0.8 per cent of the community". (The 0.8 figure has been criticised by the Productivity Commission, which says counting problem gamblers as a proportion of the population is misleading as most people don't gamble regularly on products that "present significant difficulties".) This study, however, does have a start date. It will begin in early 2018. What are the chances that once delivered it does not take two years to consider, particularly if it finds a similarly low rate of problem gambling? That would be quite convenient for a government in a bit of a political jam, paving the way for an argument that such regulatory intervention is unwarranted given the relatively small number of people affected.

There is a chance it might not even come to that. While the government sat on the report, a former pokie addict, Shonica Guy, was taking casino operator Crown and pokie manufacturer Aristocrat to the federal court. Loading She alleges losses disguised as wins and other features of a machine known as Dolphin Treasure are misleading, deceptive and in breach of consumer law. If the court agrees it would be a huge win for anti-pokies activists but also, perversely, for the NSW government.