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Australia’s federal government and the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Tasmania are walking back or delaying legislative responses to aberrant gambling, while reform leader Victoria is set to deliver a promise on carded slot machine play.
The Victoria state government on Tuesday (November 26) introduced the Gambling Legislation Amendment (Pre-commitment and Carded Play) Bill 2024 in parliament, a major slot machine reform announced by former Premier Dan Andrews in July 2023.
The bill mandates carded slot machine play and pre-commitment functionality, including gambling data for player reference, for the state’s more than 27,300 slot machines in hotels and clubs. A similar arrangement is already in force at the Crown Melbourne casino.
The reform schedule will see a pilot in mid-2025 at a sample of around 40 venues before implementation proper in phases, with carded play mandatory by 2027.
The betting frequency will also be reduced, with slot machines approved by the state gambling regulator after December 1, 2025, slowing their spin rate from at least 2.14 seconds to 3 seconds, or a 40 percent reduction per unit of time.
Also from December 2025, players will only be able to load machines with a maximum of A$100 at any time, compared with the current limit of A$1,000.
“Almost 30 percent of Victorians who play gaming machines experience gambling harm”, casino, gaming and liquor regulation minister Melissa Horne said in a statement on Tuesday.
“These laws will save lives and livelihoods by giving control back to patrons.”
Horne, who was casino and gaming minister in 2023 when the reforms were announced, said at the time that Victoria’s legislation would be the “strongest in Australia” in protecting slots users from harm, and would hinder money laundering.
The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) said at the time that it would aggressively enforce the changes, which follow the introduction on August 30 of a 4am-10am gambling curfew in hotels and clubs.
Elsewhere in Australia, however, gambling reforms are hitting headwinds amid federal election pressure, industry and sports code lobbying, and state government cold feet on the impacts of reform on regional businesses and state revenue.
Seventeen months since a parliamentary committee unanimously recommended a full ban on advertising for online gambling and a raft of associated reforms, the Labor government has yet to present draft legislation as the ministers for communications and sports consider their responses.
Government sources have all but ruled out a blanket ban, but the fate of mass media advertising rules, particularly those protecting children and quarantining live sports broadcasts from ads, remain unclear.
The Guardian Daily on Monday reported inconsistencies between sports minister Anika Wells and Treasury assistant minister Andrew Leigh on the status of the legislation.
It quoted Wells as saying that consultations with sports code stakeholders are ongoing and that the draft is not final, while Leigh said the bill has been finalised but is being held back for fear of rejection in the Senate, where the balance of power is held by small parties and independents.
It now appears likely that the draft will not appear until near or after the federal election, to be held by May 17 next year.
Meanwhile, in NSW, delays and industry objections to Australia’s most populous state’s attempt to introduce mandatory carded play for slot machines continue to mount, with a leaked report by an independent panel on gaming reform muddying the waters further amid a small number of cashless gaming trials.
The report waters down the toughest aspects of reforms sought by cross-benchers and anti-gambling civic groups, with the Guardian on November 21 citing an up to four-year grace period before clamping anonymous slot machine play.
Instead, the confidential report supports a central data monitoring system linked to self-exclusion lists and backed by facial recognition. It also backs more lenient controls for non-NSW residents and “casual players”.
Tasmania state last week suspended its preparation-stage initiative to introduce mandatory carded play for slot machines after government officials cited cost blowouts, delays and technical obstacles.
The decision triggered a rare rebuke of an Australian government by its own gambling regulator, with Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission chair Jenny Cranston telling local media she was not given access to a key Deloitte report into the problem, and was “incredibly disappointed” and “very, very, very saddened” at the de facto cancellation of the programme.
