{"id":18670,"date":"2021-06-04T15:08:28","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=18670"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:52:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:52:30","slug":"australia-player-losses-on-nsw-slots-reach-au2-2bn-up-to-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-player-losses-on-nsw-slots-reach-au2-2bn-up-to-april","title":{"rendered":"Australia: player losses on NSW slots reach AU$2.2bn up to April"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Player losses on New South Wales slot machines reached over\u00a0<strong>AU$2.2bn\u00a0<\/strong>in the first four months of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Australia.- The New South Wales regulator has reported that player losses on slots, known in Australia as poker machines, reached <strong>AU$2.2bn <\/strong>during the first four months of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost\u00a0<strong>AU$600m losses were registered in April<\/strong>, up 12.58 per cent when compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Canterbury-Bankstown,<strong>\u00a0machines saw profits of AU$48m in April<\/strong>, which means losses of AU$1.5m per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Fairfield, losses on poker machines reached\u00a0<strong>almost AU$45m<\/strong> in April, while councils in Sydney,<strong>\u00a0Cumberland and Blacktown reported profits between AU$96m and AU$116m<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Government of New South Wales plans to start to <strong>test cashless slot machines. <\/strong>The\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-nsw-club-to-start-trial-of-cashless-slot-machines\">New Lambton club<\/a>\u00a0will be the first venue to\u00a0<strong>introduce cashless slots from September<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The machines will include spending limits,&nbsp;<strong>time limits and real-time messaging to customers<\/strong>&nbsp;to collaborate with responsible gambling measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to local media, Victor Dominello, customer service minister, said cashless poker machines\u00a0<strong>will help the club combat money laundering apart from problem gambling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kate da Costa, spokesperson for\u00a0<strong>the Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR) in NSW<\/strong>, said it was expected that money spent on poker machines would grow due to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to da Costa,\u00a0<strong>people feel attracted to gambling<\/strong>, especially machines, when they feel stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<strong>Alliance for Gambling Reform<\/strong>&nbsp;believes a cashless system would help authorities protect people from gambling-related harms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-cashless-gambling-proposal-gains-support\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">religious institutions and community service<\/a>&nbsp;organisations have also expressed their support for cashless gambling in New South Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rev Simon Hansford<\/strong>, moderator of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW, and\u00a0<strong>Rev Stu Cameron<\/strong>, CEO and superintendent of Wesley Mission, have expressed their support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cameron said: \u201cA radical change such as this move towards cashless gambling could have<strong>&nbsp;a considerable impact on people who are experiencing gambling harm<\/strong>, which is a significant number of people in NSW.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rev Tim Costello<\/strong>, chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, has said the&nbsp;<strong>cashless gambling system should be linked to verified ID<\/strong>&nbsp;and self-exclusion registers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also said it must include low load limits to ensure people regularly take breaks from gambling. He again called for a&nbsp;<strong>ban on credit card gambling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Victorians\u2019 losses to poker machines up 11.7 per cent in April<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation has reported that\u00a0<strong>pokie losses in April were up 11.7 per cent<\/strong>\u00a0when compared to the previous year. Losses reached\u00a0<strong>almost AU$240m\u00a0<\/strong>across all but four municipalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Macarthur Advertiser,<strong>\u00a0the city of Melton recorded the sharpest rise in poker machine losses<\/strong>\u00a0with 24 per cent of the total, followed by Hume with 21 per cent, and Brimbank with 20 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tim Costello&nbsp;<\/strong>said the Alliance for Gambling Reform had warned that losses would increase after lockdowns eased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also stated: &#8220;We knew<strong>\u00a0it would happen because the evidence shows gambling harm increases in a crisis<\/strong>, whether it&#8217;s a pandemic, an economic downturn or a natural disaster.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Player losses on New South Wales slot machines reached over\u00a0AU$2.2bn\u00a0in the first four months of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"New South Wales reported over AU$2.2bn in slot machine losses in the first four months of the year, with April seeing a 12.58% increase year-on-year. Concurrently, the NSW Government is initiating a trial of cashless slot machines at the New Lambton club, incorporating spending limits and real-time messaging to enhance responsible gambling and combat money laundering. This regulatory push for cashless systems is supported by advocacy groups and religious institutions, aiming to mitigate gambling-related harms amidst rising losses also observed in Victoria.","focusai_entities":"New South Wales regulator, Government of New South Wales, Victor Dominello, Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR) in NSW, Kate da Costa, Uniting Church Synod of NSW, Rev Simon Hansford, Wesley Mission, Rev Stu Cameron, Rev Tim Costello, Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation","focusai_location":"Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield, Sydney, Cumberland, Blacktown, New Lambton, Melton, Hume, Brimbank","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (1.0), product_ux (0.85), tech_data (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Cashless Trial KPIs?","query":"What are the anticipated key performance indicators for the New Lambton cashless trial, and how will success be measured to inform a potential statewide rollout in NSW?"},{"label":"Operational Cost Impact?","query":"What are the projected capital expenditure and ongoing operational cost implications for B2C operators in NSW mandated to transition to cashless gaming systems?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,28,158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-casino-news","category-slider-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18670"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18690,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18670\/revisions\/18690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}