“The Star supports the government’s move towards cashless play across the industry.”
The comments will be welcomed by gambling reform advocates but will probably be interpreted by the powerful pubs and clubs lobby as an attempt to make sure other poker machine owners operate on the same playing field as casinos.
The Star and its competitor at Barangaroo, Crown Resorts, signed an agreement with the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) to transition to cashless gaming in May 2021. The agreement was one of the requirements imposed on Crown by the regulator to regain its casino licenceafter an inquiry found it unsuitable to hold the licencedue to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism failings exposed three months earlier.
Star Entertainmentlost its NSW casino licencein October and will operate under the regulator’s independent manager Nicholas Weeks until 2024. It was also fined $100 million by the NSW casino regulator.
While the Star has adopted a supportive tone on cashless gaming, elsewhere it is locked in a battle with the NSW government after Treasurer Matt Kean proposed a tax increase on its Sydney casino’s table games and poker machines last week.
The announcement has wiped more than $600 million off its market value.
Under the proposal, casino poker machines will attract a top tax rate of 60.67 per cent from July next year, bringing NSW in line with new taxation rates announced in Victoria’s state budget. But unlike in Victoria, the proposed increase will apply only to machines in the state’s casinos and not those in pubs and clubs.
The casino operator is also facing fines totalling hundreds of millions of dollars afterAUSTRAC launched civil penalty proceedingsagainst it for alleged systemic non-compliance with anti-money laundering laws.
The Star’s comments on Perrottet’s cashless gaming plan were made three days after NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told theHeraldon Monday that the misuse of cash in the gambling system was an “area of concern” that had been highlighted by a damning state Crime Commission investigation into the billions of dollars being laundered through poker machines every year.
The introduction of the gaming card, a recommendation from the Crime Commission inquiry codenamed Project Islington, would need to go to cabinet, and Perrottet will also need to convince Nationals colleagues who have not committed to supporting the technology.
ClubsNSW and the Australian Hotels Association have previously warned the cost of the measure wouldforce venues to impose job cuts,a claim disputed by the United Workers Union which represents the industry’s employees. Cashless gaming is also supported by the NSW branch of the Health Services Union, which has argued that the time for trials and talk has “been and past”.
ClubsNSW launched the statewide “Reform the Right Way” campaign earlier this month with a call for “practical and proportionate reform”. The action singled out independents and the Greens, while inviting people to email their local MP.
The government scrappeda bill to reform registered clubslast month which would have allowed facial recognition technology in pubs and clubs to exclude those from venues who had self-identified as problem gamblers.
ClubsNSW has said it will proceed with its plans to implement the technology in compliance with existing privacy laws.
It declined to comment about the Star’s call for pubs and clubs to embrace cashless gaming.
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