{"id":777027932,"date":"2025-06-18T12:51:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T15:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777027932"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:46:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:46:40","slug":"new-south-wales-premier-criticised-over-response-to-cashless-pokies-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-south-wales-premier-criticised-over-response-to-cashless-pokies-trial","title":{"rendered":"New South Wales premier criticised over response to cashless pokies trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Advocacy groups and experts accuse Chris Minns of misrepresenting key findings<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- New South Wales premier Chris Minns has been criticised for describing the state\u2019s cashless gambling trial as \u201clargely ineffective\u201d and suggesting that his government may abandon the policy. Advocacy groups and social services organisations accuse Minns of misrepresenting the goals and outcomes of the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilot, initiated in early 2024, was one of the responses to a 2022 NSW Crime Commission report on in criminal proceeds passing through the state\u2019s 90,000 gaming machines. Designed to test whether cashless technology could track transactions and reduce gambling-related harm, the trial involved just 14 \u201cgenuine and active\u201d participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report from a government-appointed independent panel concluded that the technology had been successful and recommended that cashless gambling become mandatory by 2028. However, Premier Minns dismissed the results last week, citing high costs and limited impact on problem gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t worked,\u201d Minns said. \u201cIt\u2019s not driven down the incidents of problem gambling… the cost of compliance is astronomical. I can\u2019t really justify spending hundreds of millions when we need new public schools and transport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charity Wesley Mission general manager Jim Wackett said: \u201cThe trial was never about changing people\u2019s behaviour. It was about seeing if the technology worked \u2013 and it did. This is about accountability, transparency, and preventing harm. You don\u2019t throw away the roadmap just because the first step was hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> L&GNSW to test gaming staff on harm minimisation responsibilities<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advocacy groups and experts accuse Chris Minns of misrepresenting key findings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":16060,"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 Premier Chris Minns is facing criticism for dismissing the state's cashless gambling trial as \"largely ineffective\" and considering its abandonment. Advocacy groups contend Minns misrepresents the trial's success in proving technology for tracking transactions and reducing harm, despite an independent panel recommending mandatory cashless gambling by 2028. The Premier cites high compliance costs and limited impact on problem gambling as reasons for his stance.","focusai_entities":"Chris Minns, Wesley Mission, Jim Wackett, NSW Crime Commission, L&GNSW","focusai_location":"Australia, New South Wales","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Policy Reversal Impact?","query":"What are the projected financial implications for NSW gaming operators if the cashless gambling mandate is definitively abandoned, considering both avoided compliance costs and potential reputational risks?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Future?","query":"How will the NSW government address the NSW Crime Commission's original findings regarding criminal proceeds in gaming machines if the cashless trial's recommendations are not adopted?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156],"tags":[289,24795,15256],"class_list":["post-777027932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","tag-australia","tag-cashless","tag-pokies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027932","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777027932"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777027971,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027932\/revisions\/777027971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777027932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777027932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777027932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}