The New South Wales (NSW) Labor government will vote on whether to halve the number of gaming machines, after being warned that they are doing ‘incalculable harm’.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has put forward the proposal, to be voted on at the NSW Labor Annual State Conference in July, in an attempt to reduce the number of machines, which are known locally as pokies, found in pubs and clubs across the state from 87,000 to around 42,000 over the next decade.
Byrne described the gaming machines as a ‘scourge’ that cause ‘incalculable harm’ to players in NSW. He also noted that the state has the most gaming machines per capita outside of international gambling hubs like Las Vegas and Macau.
In a statement shared on social media, Byrne said: “Enough is enough. The human cost inflicted by poker machines cannot be swept under the carpet any longer.
“Losses from poker machines in NSW have grown to more than AU$9 billion (£4.79bn) this year – the problem is getting worse. The vast majority of that money is coming out of the pockets of people in working-class and lower-income communities.”
The motion has called on Labor MPs to decide their vote on ethical rather than political grounds, and has proposed programmes to support clubs and pubs to assist their transition away from relying on the revenue generated by the machines.
Pressure has continued to ramp up on NSW’s government to reform the rules surrounding gaming machines.
Earlier this year, NSW’s Minister for Gaming and Racing, David Harris, revoked rules that exempted more than 670 venues from complying with mandatory shutdown rules between 4am and 10am after state-funded research had identified that pokies players were significantly more likely to experience harm after midnight.
Before the announcement, the Green Party’s Cate Faehrmann accused the NSW Premier Chris Minns of allowing the gambling industry to dictate policy to the state and ignoring the evidence provided by the report.
Harris said at the time of announcing the changes: “The NSW Government will continue to deliver evidence-based reforms to ensure we are striking the balance of addressing gambling harm while supporting an industry that contributes billions to the NSW economy and employs more than 150,000 people.”
On a national level, Australia’s Labor government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, is also fine-tuning rules to curtail gambling advertising, which will come into effect at the start of 2027.
Among the changes are a limitation on the number of gambling advertisements broadcast each hour and complete bans on advertising during periods such as school drop-off and pick-up times.
