{"id":22340,"date":"2021-09-06T13:39:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T16:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=22340"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:57:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:57:33","slug":"wa-authorities-question-differences-between-pokies-and-egms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wa-authorities-question-differences-between-pokies-and-egms","title":{"rendered":"WA authorities question differences between pokies and EGMs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Perth Casino Royal Commission has started to question whether there is any difference between pokies and electronic gaming machines (EGMs) as the former are banned in WA but EGMs are allowed in Crown Perth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- As the Perth Casino Royal Commission continues investigating\u00a0Crown’s suitability to hold a gaming licence<\/a>, it’s now looking at the allowance of EGMs at the casino venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some experts say EGMs can be just as addictive as pokies\u00a0<\/strong>(slots), which have been banned in Western Australia since 1985. EGMs are only allowed at Crown Perth, which has 2,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to financial reports,\u00a0WA gamblers have spent AU$306m on EGMs this year<\/strong>, up 50 per cent when compared to the previous year. However, members of\u00a0Western Australia\u2019s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC)<\/strong>\u00a0are now struggling to differentiate them from pokies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committee members acknowledged that these two types of machines have a similar speed of play<\/strong>. Although the pokies have the ball drop and EGMs are more focused on the visual aspect and the ball drop speed is slower.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Royal Commission chair questioned over conflict of interest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Royal Commission examining <\/strong>Crown Perth<\/a> has taken a new turn after Geoffrey Watson SC<\/strong>, a former senior counsel for New South Wales\u2019s corruption watchdog, questioned the choice of Neville Owen as lead commissioner<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watson claims Owen has connections with Kerry Stokes, a local billionaire who controls various businesses<\/strong>. He says Owen is the director of Clabon Pty Ltd, which is a shareholder in Stokes\u2019 private investment vehicle, Australian Capital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owen has admitted that one of the committee witnesses, Crown Burswood director Maryna Fivester<\/strong>, was the chief executive officer of Seven West Media, one of Stoke\u2019s companies. The inquiry also heard from John Alexander<\/strong>, a former Crown executive who is a member of the Seven West board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to ABC, Stokes also has a close relationship with Crown\u2019s major shareholder James Parker<\/strong> and managed his personal affairs during a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owen has dismissed suggestions of a conflict of interests, but Watson insisted the Royal Commission needed to be \u201cutterly independent and beyond reproach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WA premier Mark McGowan has given his support to Owen<\/strong> describing him as an \u201ceminent jurist\u201d and praising his experience and honour. however, former premier Colin Barnett said Owen\u2019s appointment was odd<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cFor a person of his knowledge and his expertise, you would have expected he would have thought that was relevant, that he declare his association with Stokes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Perth Casino Royal Commission has started to question whether there is any difference between pokies and electronic gaming machines (EGMs) as the former are banned in WA but EGMs are allowed in Crown Perth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":22354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Perth Casino Royal Commission is scrutinizing the distinction between 'pokies' (banned) and 'Electronic Gaming Machines' (EGMs) at Crown Perth, given their similar addictive potential and significant revenue generation. Concurrently, the Commission faces allegations of a conflict of interest involving its lead commissioner, Neville Owen, due to his alleged connections with Kerry Stokes, a figure with ties to Crown's major shareholder.","focusai_entities":"Perth Casino Royal Commission, Crown Perth, Western Australia\u2019s Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC), Clabon Pty Ltd, Australian Capital, Seven West Media, ABC, Geoffrey Watson SC, Neville Owen, Kerry Stokes, Maryna Fivester, John Alexander, James Parker, Mark McGowan, Colin Barnett","focusai_location":"Australia, Western Australia, Perth, New South Wales","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"EGM Regulatory Reclassification Impact?","query":"What are the potential GGR and NGR implications for Crown Perth and the broader WA market if EGMs are reclassified as 'pokies' and subsequently banned or heavily restricted?"},{"label":"Governance Framework Integrity?","query":"How might the allegations of conflict of interest against the Royal Commission's lead commissioner impact the perceived integrity and ultimate findings of the inquiry, potentially leading to further legal challenges or delays?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156],"tags":[23911,23909],"class_list":["post-22340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-slot-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22340","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=22340"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22370,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22340\/revisions\/22370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}