In what some have called Australia’s most significant gambling harm reduction effort thus far, the Tasmanian government has announced a new mandatory “pre-commitment” program for video poker machines, also known as “pokies.”
By the end of 2024, players will be required to set loss limits of up to US$66.92 per day, $334.61 per month and $3346.10 per year. Those limits may only be increased if the player provides financial verification proving that they can afford such losses.
Under the new program, patrons will be barred from playing once those limits have been reached, and machines will only unlock again once a new time period starts.
The move is surprising for a few reasons, the first being that the local government previously fought tooth-and-nail against a 2018 measure that would have removed pokies from bars and nightclubs altogether. Tasmania is also Australia’s smallest state, meaning its 3,399 total pokies is only a drop in the bucket compared to regions like New South Wales and Victoria.
However, many around the industry feel that if the new program is successful, a nationwide implementation could follow soon after.
Tasmanian Treasurer Michael Ferguson previously indicated that the choices for gambling harm reduction were boiled down to two options: pre-commitment for machines or the utilization of facial recognition for venues that feature them—the former ultimately won out.
The program is expected to cost just over US$8 million to implement, or approximately $2100 per machine.
In other states around the country, gambling reform has been centered primarily around money laundering and junket operations, with pokies not being a key point of concern. However, high cash limits in New South Wales and Victoria have become troublesome, in the sense that bad actors can easily deposit large amounts of money, immediately cash out and then count the sums as gambling winnings if questioned by authorities.
Victoria has offered a similar, voluntary program called “YourPlay” since 2015, but recent reports have indicated that it accounts for less than 1 percent of machine turnover. Queensland has no such initiative, but its strict US$66.92 deposit limit largely acts as a deterrent.
South and Western Australia both have small numbers of machines, but both have mulled the idea of implementing similar harm minimization efforts.
Although the new pre-commitment program was just announced, Tasmania’s hospitality industry is already beginning to voice its displeasure. The Tasmanian Hospitality Association (THA) has called it an attack on patrons’ freedom of choice.
THA CEO Steve Old told ABC News Australia that he was not happy about how “The Liberal government has declared it will decide how Tasmanians spend their money and how Tasmanians consume their entertainment.”
Opponents of the measure, including the THA, have said that only 0.4 percent of the state’s population are problem gamblers, and such limits punish the vast majority of patrons who do gamble responsibly.
However, a report from last year, titled the 2021 Social and Economic Impact Study of Gambling in Tasmania, said that that number was closer to 6.4 percent. It also asserted that 12 percent of pokie players specifically were either moderate or severe problem gamblers.
