Greens welcome government move on pokies shutdown loophole but warn 4am is too late
The Greens have welcomed the Minns Government’s decision today to finally close the loophole that allowed more than 670 pubs and clubs to keep their poker machines running during the legislated shutdown period of 4am to 10am, but are urging the government to listen to the experts and shutdown the pokies earlier.
Greens MP and gambling harm minimisation spokesperson Cate Faehrmann, who introduced her own bill this year to require all pubs and clubs to close their gaming rooms between midnight and 10am without exception, said the announcement was welcome but must not stop there.
“Shutting down this loophole should never have taken this long. No venue should be allowed to run pokies 24/7, and this exemption has been exploited for years by venues chasing every last dollar of gambling harm,” Ms Faehrmann said.
“This is a win for common sense, for public health, and for the thousands of people harmed every year by predatory gambling but it can’t stop there. I’m glad the government has finally admitted that this outdated loophole must be closed, but the Greens bill goes further for good reason.
“The study undertaken for the Responsible Gambling Fund into the impact of late night pokies gambling highlighted that gambling harm increased after midnight, and more so after 2am. The Productivity Commission also recommended a 2am shutdown.
“This is the absolute bare minimum for the government to do to reduce late night gambling harm and they’ve only acted after I introduced my bill and began to secure the support necessary to get it passed. I’ll continue to seek support to get pokies shutdown earlier.
“We still have more than 86,000 poker machines in NSW — more than anywhere outside Nevada. We still allow pubs and clubs to make billions of dollars a year off people’s losses with barely any checks on player safety. And we still see families across this state falling into debt, violence and homelessness because of predatory gambling.”
Ms Faehrmann said the government must now take the next steps, including:
- Shutdown the pokies from midnight ideally, or 2am at the latest
- Lift taxes on poker machine profits in clubs and scrap the $1 billion tax handed back to clubs
- Roll out mandatory cashless gambling across NSW, starting with the biggest harm-causing venues.
- Slash machine numbers, particularly in high-risk communities.
“Closing the 4am loophole is welcome, but it won’t fix the enormous social harm caused by poker machines in this state, which increases dramatically after midnight.
“We can’t keep tinkering around the edges. If the Premier is serious about reducing gambling harm, this has to be the beginning, not the end,” said Cate Faehrmann.