CENTRAL West clubs have voted unanimously to support a ClubsNSW campaign against the installation of mandatory pre-commitment technology on poker machines.
Club representatives from Orange, Bathurst, Mudgee, Wellington and Dubbo attended the meeting in Orange yesterday, where 90 minutes was spent discussing the technology, which was demanded by Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie in return for his support for a Labor minority government
Mandatory pre-commitment requires gamblers to set a bet limit before they start playing a poker machine.
ClubsNSW claims it will cost clubs $42 million to install the technology on some 2800 poker machines from Lithgow to Dubbo.
Chairman Peter Newell said half of the existing machines would need to be replaced, while installing the technology on the remaining half would cost $500 per machine.
“If commonsense can’t prevail here ... clubs will close,” he said.
Mr Newell said 11,500 thousand job losses had been predicted in NSW clubs as a result of the technology.
ClubsAustralia has cited increases in internet gambling after the technology was introduced in Norway as evidence that mandatory pre-commitment did not reduce problem gambling.
The industry body claims all poker machines in Australia would also need to be linked in order for the technology to work.
“Problem gamblers will find a way, we do not think this is any solution to problem gambling,” Mr Newell said.
lisa.cox@ruralpress.com
Email a friend