ClubsNSW announces new code of conduct amid cashless cards debate

New South Wales prime minister Dominic Perrottet has welcomed the code but reiterated his intention to introduce cashless gaming.

Australia.- ClubsNSW has released a new code of conduct amid the debate over gambling reforms in the state of New South Wales. The code includes measures to ban suspected criminals, social checks on poker machine players every three hours and measures to prevent problem gamblers from entering venues.

Staff will be trained to identify key indicators of problem gambling, and each club will have a responsible gambling officer. Those involved in money laundering will be banned for life.

Meanwhile, customers seeking credit for gambling, borrowing money from other customers or stealing money to gamble will be automatically banned and will be offered counselling. Family members can apply for an exclusion for a relative they believe may have been harmed by gambling, and an experienced gambling counsellor can determine whether an injunction is appropriate.

However, the code has been criticised by those campaigning for gambling reforms. Tim Costello, chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said it was a confession of the issues the industry has long ignored, while Green MP Cate Faehrmann called it a “weak … desperate attempt to alleviate the public and avoid necessary regulation”.

NSW Council of Social Services acting chief executive Ben McAlpine said the proposal did not go far enough and that self-regulation would not address problem gambling. NSW PM Dominic Perrottet welcomed the code but reiterated his intention to introduce cashless gaming as part of the coalition government’s response to the New South Wales Crime Commission (NSWCC) report on poker machines and money laundering.