The New South Wales Labor Party will vote on a motion to reduce the state’s 87,000 poker machines by 50 percent at its annual State Conference in July, according to Sky News.
The proposal, brought by Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne, aims to eliminate at least 45,000 machines over a decade to address what he described as “preventable misery” caused by gambling.
Byrne announced on Monday that he will bring the motion to the floor of the NSW Labor Annual State Conference, seeking to “significantly reduce” the number of poker machines operating in pubs and clubs across the state.
New South Wales currently has the highest number of poker machines per capita of any jurisdiction in the world, outside of casino hubs such as Macau and Las Vegas. By comparison, Victoria operates fewer than 30,000 machines, while pubs and clubs in Western Australia have none.
The motion comes amid rising gambling losses in the state. According to figures cited by Byrne, poker machine losses in New South Wales have grown from AU$8 billion ($5.8 billion) to more than AU$9 billion ($6.5 billion) over the past year.
“The human cost inflicted by poker machines in NSW cannot be swept under the carpet any longer,” Byrne said in a statement. “In the past year losses from poker machines in NSW have grown from AU$8 billion to more than AU$9 billion — the problem is getting worse.”
He added that the majority of those losses come from “working class and lower income communities — the very people Labor exists to represent.”
In addition to reducing the number of machines, the proposal seeks to establish government-funded support programs to help clubs and pubs transition away from poker machine revenue toward live entertainment offerings.
