Perrottet has made the right call on backing a cashless gaming card

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is on the right side of the debate over a cashless gaming card, whether the almighty clubs and pubs like it or not. Voters do not see Perrottet’s support for the card as moral crusading or an ill-considered thought bubble.

Rather, as a new Resolve Strategic survey for The Sydney Morning Herald clearly shows, more than 60 per cent of voters support removing cash from the current (broken) system, and they want the government to do it because they are not convinced fixing problem gambling can be left to the pubs and clubs.

Perrottet’s state has the unenviable title of being the gambling capital of the country, and only just misses out on the worldwide honour to Nevada. The extraordinary scale of poker machine addiction in NSW, particularly in the poorest areas of the state, is a shameful indictment on governments past.

This figure alone says it all. Profits from poker machines – or losses for punters – hit a record $3.8 billion in the first half of this year alone. And in the state budget in June, NSW Treasury said it expected revenue from pokies to the government to significantly increase thanks to the strong recovery in gaming activity this year and “expectations for household disposable income”.

NSW has a long history with pokies – it was the first state to legalise the machines in 1956 and the latest data shows there were 86,640 machines as of June 30 this year. But a shameful outcome has been that the machines have not only ruined some lives and families through problem gambling, but they have become a tool for criminals to wash their dirty cash collected through the proceeds of crime.

This is not just hearsay. The powerful NSW Crime Commission launched an investigation into money laundering and found that it does, indeed, exist to some extent in the state’s registered clubs. The commission had a clear recommendation: a cashless gaming card would help combat money laundering.

The commission was not the first to suggest such a card. Senior minister Victor Dominello proposed it two years ago but was shouted down in cabinet by some of his Liberal colleagues (including former minister Stuart Ayres) and the Nationals. The crime commission’s finding makes it much harder to argue against now.

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns is also equivocating, although he has expressed support for a trial of a card, a small gesture given some of the biggest losses on poker machines happen to be in poorer Labor-held electorates. And not unsurprisingly, the clubs and pubs are dead against a mandatory card, convinced it will make venues unviable and will cost jobs.

Voters do not view Perrottet’s push to overhaul poker machines with the same scepticism as the clubs and pubs or even some of his own colleagues. He has chosen the correct position on a debate that is only heading in one direction.

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