{"id":777001586,"date":"2023-01-18T08:48:38","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T11:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777001586"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:27:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:27:02","slug":"rsl-tasmania-to-remove-all-of-its-poker-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/rsl-tasmania-to-remove-all-of-its-poker-machines","title":{"rendered":"RSL Tasmania to remove all of its poker machines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>RSL Tasmania said it wants to refocus on veteran welfare and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Australia.- The Returned and Services League of Australia (<strong>RSL<\/strong>) has announced it has decided to <strong>remove the last poker machines from Tasmanian RSL branches<\/strong> by June.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are currently 20 poker machines in RSL clubs in Tasmania and all of them are located in the Devonport sub-branch in the state&#8217;s northwest<strong>. John Hardy<\/strong>, RSL Tasmania&#8217;s chief executive, said he had reached an agreement with the Devonport committee to remove the machines by the middle year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hardy stated RSL clubs have to refocus on veteran welfare and support and stated: &#8220;If we think about what the RSL should stand for &#8230; it&#8217;s commemoration, it&#8217;s recognition of service and it&#8217;s welfare for veterans and their families.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;That is what we fundamentally believe the RSL is about. It is not about pots, parties and pokies.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:&nbsp;<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australian-mp-calls-for-ban-on-loot-boxes-for-under-18s\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Australian MP calls for ban on loot boxes for under 18s<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Shannon Wainwright<\/strong>, Devonport RSL president, has also welcomed the upcoming removal of poker machines from its premises and added: &#8220;We&#8217;ve got to be clear about what Tasmania RSL is about, we are about the benefit of veterans.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Burnie RSL, also in the northwest of the state, decided to remove 18 of their poker machines in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ian Jones <\/strong>of Burnie RSL said it was a good decision and pointed out they have had almost no negative feedback. He also welcomed the removal of the poker machines from the nearby Devonport branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Independent federal MP <strong>Andrew Wilkie<\/strong> said the RSL&#8217;s decision was good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wilkie also told ABC: &#8220;I think it returns the RSL more to its core role and it&#8217;s good also for the RSL to be setting an example and frankly it&#8217;s an example that pubs in the state should be paying attention to.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NSW Labor Leader announces major gambling reforms in case of winning elections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The debate around&nbsp;<strong>major gambling reforms<\/strong>&nbsp;continues to be the focus of attention ahead of the upcoming state elections in March in New South Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, Labor leader&nbsp;<strong>Chris Minns&nbsp;<\/strong>has stated in case the NSW Labor Party win the election, the government will introduce a series of gambling reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through Twitter, Minns said it will be \u201cthe most comprehensive reform package in NSW history.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plan includes reducing the number of poker machines in the state by requiring one poker machine to be forfeited for every two machines traded between a pub or club. Currently, one machine is forfeited for every three traded, according to Minns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He then stated the Labor Party will&nbsp;<strong>immediately reduce the NSW-wide machine entitlement cap<\/strong>&nbsp;and introduce a floating cap that will go down every year as machine licenses go down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The party plans to reduce cash feed-in limits from AU$5000 to AU$500 per machine, for all new poker machines. The measure will then apply to older machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Labor Government would also aim to introduce a mandatory 12-month&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/disagreements-continue-over-nsw-cashless-gambling-cards-proposal\" target=\"_blank\">cashless gaming trial<\/a>&nbsp;in NSW, which will begin on July 1, 2023. The trial will include at least 500 machines, with a mix of pubs and clubs. Minns said an independent panel will be tasked with providing a roadmap to the implementation of gaming reform across the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RSL Tasmania said it wants to refocus on veteran welfare and support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":12532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"RSL Tasmania is strategically divesting from gaming operations by removing all remaining poker machines from its Devonport sub-branch, signaling a pivot towards core veteran welfare. Concurrently, the NSW Labor Party has unveiled a comprehensive gambling reform package, proposing significant reductions in poker machine entitlements, a drastic cut in cash feed-in limits, and a mandatory cashless gaming trial, which could fundamentally reshape the state's gaming landscape.","focusai_entities":"RSL Tasmania, RSL, John Hardy, Shannon Wainwright, Ian Jones, Andrew Wilkie, NSW Labor Party, Chris Minns, Devonport RSL, Burnie RSL, ABC","focusai_location":"Australia, Tasmania, Devonport, Burnie, New South Wales","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.9), tech_data (0.9), marketing_crm (0.75), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"NSW GGR Impact?","query":"What is the projected GGR impact of NSW Labor's proposed machine entitlement cap and cash feed-in limit reductions on the state's gaming sector, and how will this affect operator profitability and market consolidation?"},{"label":"Cashless Tech Demand?","query":"How will the mandatory cashless gaming trial in NSW influence B2B technology supplier demand, the competitive landscape for payment solution providers, and the required platform integration capabilities?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-777001586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-business-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001586","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=777001586"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777001588,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001586\/revisions\/777001588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777001586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777001586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777001586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}