A NSW club industry code of conduct has been welcomed by Premier Dominic Perrottet, though he says it won't deter him from introducing cashless gaming, in the face of fierce resistance.
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ClubsNSW released the code on Monday, promising a raft of reforms, including a ban on suspected criminals.
It includes welfare checks on poker machine players every three hours and measures to ban problem gamblers from venues.
Staff would also be trained to identify key problem gambling indicators, while every club would have a responsible gambling officer.
Problem gambling has become a hot-button issue ahead of the March 25 election, as the latest data shows gamblers losing almost $1 million every hour on NSW pokies.
Political parties have been under pressure to introduce cashless gaming after a NSW Crime Commission report found billions of dollars in dirty money was being laundered through machines every year.
ClubsNSW has rejected the push for a cashless card, saying it would not be effective at reducing money laundering overall.
Mr Perrottet said everything needed to be done to reduce problem gambling and the government's response to the Crime Commission report would be released "shortly".
"I've also made it very clear, the destination is cashless gaming in NSW.
"This is something you get one chance at solving the problem," he said.
"We need to do everything we can in relation to reducing problem gambling in NSW."
Labor says it will cut the number of poker machines and introduce a cashless gaming trial on 500 of the state's 90,000 machines.
Labor Leader Chris Minns criticised the government for failing to release its policy on gambling reform, saying it had been 14 weeks since the damning report.
The Labor leader said he was nonchalant about the new ClubsNSW policy.
"It's up to them what they do," Mr Minns said.
"We've got a policy plank that will be law if we win the election on March the 25th."
ClubsNSW says under its code, patrons seeking credit for gambling, borrowing money from other patrons or stealing money to gamble would be offered counselling and automatically barred from gaming rooms.
Family members will be able to request an exclusion for loved-ones who they believe are experiencing gambling harm, with an expert gambling counsellor to determine whether a ban is appropriate.
Suspected money launderers will also be banned for life.
ClubsNSW chief executive Josh Landis said the code was the most effective way to protect problem gamblers and keep crime out of clubs.
"Clubs have always been the safest places to gamble and they are about to become even safer," he said.
Suspicious money-laundering behaviour includes offering to buy a winning gaming machine ticket from someone, loaning a person money to play a gaming machine or regularly depositing large amounts of money into a gaming machine and cashing out without playing.
Introducing facial recognition technology would ensure problem gamblers were barred from gaming rooms and criminals won't be admitted to NSW clubs, he said.
Greens MP Cate Faehrmann dismissed the code as a "weak and ineffective ... desperate attempt to appease the public and avoid the necessary regulation".
Australian Associated Press
