The New South Wales government has cancelled a commitment to remove some 9,500 pokie machines from the Australian state, annulling a promise to do so before state elections.
According to The Guardian, the 9,500 machines were set to be removed through a buyback scheme (encompassing about 2,000 pokies) and a forfeiture model.
In describing the reversal, NSW gaming minister David Harris claimed the cancellation was more due to cost and wasn’t based on necessity.
“What we found is it is not the number of machines that’s the issue. It’s the intensity of play. The state could pay AU$60 million ($37.2 million) to remove those machines and it would make no difference other than AU$60 million coming out of a budget when it could have been spent on harm minimization,” stated the official, as cited by the publication.
Harris furthered that election commitments were based on “the best knowledge you have”, claiming that some commitments “are no longer relevant”.
“The idea of reducing machines sounds very attractive, but when the evidence shows us that it would make no material difference, do you think we should go and spend $60 million on something that doesn’t make a difference?” he questioned.
The official also stated the government’s flipped stance comes after advice from the Independent Panel on Gaming Reform, which estimated the buy-back scheme would cost at least AU$60 million.
The panel’s report also indicated that any NSW government scheme on pokie removal ‘should be voluntary and open to NSW clubs and hotels’ and ‘be simple and transparent’.
The report suggested the buy-back scheme should price Gaming Machine Entitlement at AU$30,000 ($18,600) and should ‘target the existing commitment of 2,000 Gaming Machine Entitlements over five years’.
According to data from Liquor and Gaming NSW, pokie losses in 2024 reached AU$8.64 billion ($5.36 billion), up by 6.3 percent yearly, despite harm minimization reforms.
