According to Greens MP Justin Field, who has studied Treasury figures and forfeiture rates, if the news laws pass, the annual reduction in the number of machines will effectively cease, annual gaming profits will increase by around $80 million per year and an extra 1137 pokies will be operating in NSW by 2020 compared with under the current policy. Mr Field said he had been told by an official from the Department of Liquor and Gaming that no modelling had been done on the impact of the proposed laws. A spokesman for Mr Toole said the proposed leasing scheme “will be subject to a range of harm minimisation requirements, including the Local Impact Assessment scheme, prohibitions on moving machines into high-risk areas and a Responsible Gambling Fund levy. “Forfeiture is only one of many harm minimisation strategies used to regulate gaming machines in NSW, but will not apply to leasing as it is likely a disincentive to the removal of machines from small pubs and clubs.” Rcing Minister Paul Toole last week announced a raft of changes to laws governing pokies. Credit:Daniel Munoz

The Reverend Tim Costello, director of the Alliance for Gaming Reform, said the laws should be rejected outright. “This legislation is a disgrace and it looks like it was written by Clubs NSW. We need to instead look at Labor’s proposal to remove pokies from all pubs and clubs in Tasmania, the appalling industry response effectively buying the Tasmanian election and how we can start treating the gambling industry like the tobacco industry.” The Tasmanian Labor Party was defeated in an election earlier this month after a powerful campaign against its policy was launched by pubs and clubs. The NSW Labor Party does not share its anti-pokies position. Mr Field and Mr Costello are calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the legislation before it is passed. “The NSW government has no specific mandate to amend 16 different pieces of legislation like this and should delay the whole process until after the 2019 NSW election, so the community can have a say on whether NSW should continue on as the most pokies-soaked jurisdiction in the world, with the exception of Las Vegas and Macau,” said Mr Costello.

“Rather than rushing through legislation which has clearly been heavily influenced by Clubs NSW, we need a parliamentary inquiry into how NSW residents have became the most gambling-harmed community in the world, and after that we need an official government apology to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been harmed over the decades by increasingly sophisticated and addictive poker machines.” Tim Costello has called for a parliamentary inquiry into the legislation before it is passed. Credit:Joe Armao The mayor of Fairfield, Frank Carbone, also expressed concern about the legislation, which he agrees will not reduce the number of machines in the area. He said in a statement that under the proposed law not only could low-turnover machines be moved to high-turnover areas, but clubs could activate dormant licenses, thereby increasing the overall number of machines. The Alliance for Gambling Reform believes any reform of laws in NSW should include banning political parties and churches from operating pokies; the introduction of a blanket ban on political donations by any venue or peak body which is operating or benefiting from poker machines licences by the NSW government; and the setting of a maximum annual loss rate of $5 billion. A spokesman for Clubs NSW rejected calls for a parliamentary inquiry.

Loading “There is no need for this well-thought-out piece of legislation to be referred to a parliamentary committee,” he said. “Justin Field may have nothing better to do, but there are far more important matters to deal with. “The fact the anti-gambling lobby is critical of reforms which will reduce the risk of gambling harm tells you all you need to know about their motives. They are prohibitionists, plain and simple, and clearly they just don’t understand the government’s legislation. “Consequently, they are prepared to make alarmist and baseless claims in the misguided hope they will be able to win support for their prohibitionist stance.”

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