Last month, the New South Wales Crime Commission (NSWCC) conducted a large-scale investigation into the state’s poker machine industry, which concluded that billions of dollars in “dirty” money is being run through the machines on a yearly basis.
As such, the NSWCC released eight recommendations to help curb the issue—mandatory cashless play and data collection were chief among them. The recommendations have already been endorsed by Dominic Perrottet, the state’s premier, but not everyone is on board for the changes.
Josh Landis, CEO of the trade association ClubsNSW, recently told the Guardian that forcing a blanket transition to cashless wrongfully punishes ordinary players and makes them seem like criminals.
“You would solve crime in a heartbeat by locking everyone in their homes but we don’t allow it because we’re not a police state,” Landis said. “In the same way, you don’t have restrictions on poker machines that treat everyone like they are criminals to try and stop criminals spending money.”
Instead, Landis argued that the state has to implement “measures which are appropriate, affordable, sensible and target those who are the bad guys.”
Per the NSWCC’s investigation, more dirty money is being funneled through NSW machines than any other state in the country. Part of the problem, according to the commission, is that club staff members and management were either untrained or unaware of the illicit practices.
Michael Barnes, commissioner of the NSWCC, said in a statement at the time, “It is a deeply concerning peculiarity that in the largely cashless digital economy in which we live that gambling in NSW pubs and clubs remains an AU$95 billion a year information black hole. Clearly, that cannot be allowed to continue.”
