ClubsNSW chairman raises his voice against cashless gaming cards

George Peponis said the technology shouldn’t be made mandatory.

Australia.- New South Wales clubs are raising their voices again to set their position straight against the introduction of cashless gaming cards in the state, backed by NSW prime minister Dominic Perrottet.

ClubsNSW chairman, George Peponis, has accused media and anti-gambling advocates of misrepresenting its position on digital technology. The gaming group is convinced cashless gaming cards are not a workable solution as debate about the technology intensifies ahead of the state election in March.

NSW prime minister has said he is determined to ensure that pokie rules are reformed and added neither he nor his government was “going to be threatened by the New South Wales clubs’ lobby into reforming pokie machines”.

Perrottet aims to pursue a cashless gaming card following a damning report from the NSW Crime Commission in October which found poker machines were being used to launder money. The commission’s report recommended a cashless gaming card.

However, Peponis said on Thursday according to The Mandurah Mail, “the international experience demonstrates that forcing players to use cards drives recreational players to other forms of gambling, in particular to unregulated online casinos, and can exacerbate problem gambling.”

Last week, Unions NSW head Mark Morey said cashless cards would help alleviate problem gambling. He told AAP: “What I want to see is one more hurdle put in the way so that people think about what they do when they put more money into the pokie machine so they’re not churning through a whole week of wages.” 

He added: “This is not prohibition. This is a harm minimisation strategy. It’s about trying to give people time to think again before they put in more money.”

See also: NSW government defends proposed poker machine and table game tax increase