Government to end exemptions to mandated closing times for pubs and
clubs, including those that allow 24/7 gambling
More than
670 poker machine venues across New
South Wales will lose their “outdated exemptions” to operate
after 4am as the state government responds to pressure to
address “a public health catastrophe”.
The decision, announced by the state’s gaming
minister David Harris,
will ensure gaming rooms are closed at the mandated 4am
deadline. Some venues are allowing them to be played 24/7.
The change, which may result in pushback from the
powerful clubs and pubs lobby, comes after criticism from -
-
the
government’s own independent
advisory panel on gambling,
-
damning audit report; and
-
political pressure
from the Greens and Liberals.
It also follows state government-funded research
that showed poker machine players were significantly more likely
to experience harm after midnight.
Harris
said the exemptions were no longer acceptable and 673 clubs and
pubs would be given until 31 March to adapt.
“Following months of review, it is clear the
20-year-old variations enabling more than 670 clubs and pubs
with gaming machines to operate outside the mandated hours were
no longer fit for purpose,” Harris said.
The exemptions have been provided for a variety
of reasons, including venues being considered tourist
destinations or experiencing financial hardship.
Clubs and pubs that believe they have a “strong
case” for the exemptions to remain will be able to appeal
against the decision before 31 March but must meet tougher
conditions imposed by the state’s independent regulator.
Those conditions have not yet been announced.
The change will ensure more venues comply with a
minimum six-hour shutdown period that allows gamblers to “go
home, get ‘out of the zone’, and reflect on their behaviour’”.
About 20% of poker machine venues across the
state have some form of exemption.
In October the conservative Australian Christian
Lobby backed a private member’s bill from the NSW Greens MP Cate
Faehrmann to remove the exemptions.
“The fact that these exemptions have not been
reviewed in 20 years is unacceptable when you think about the
social cost,” said the ACL’s chief executive officer, Michelle
Pearse.
Last
month the NSW Liberals agreed to support moves to end the
exemptions despite opposition from their Coalition partners the
Nationals.
Faehrmann’s
bill also calls for the mandatory shutdown to be moved from 4am
to 2am. But the state government believes the 4am deadline is
appropriate.
Research
commissioned by the state government, which was cited as one of
the reasons behind the decision to remove exemptions, found that
70% of people gambling between 4am and 10am were considered
“high risk or moderate risk gamblers”.
More than $1m is lost to poker machines every
hour in NSW, according to analysis by the charity Wesley
Mission, with $2.3bn lost between April and June.
This was an 8.8% increase on the amount of money
lost during the same three-month period in 2024, despite the
state government introducing a number of measures designed to
limit harm.
The Wesley Mission’s chief executive, Stu
Cameron, described the figures as a public health catastrophe
and urged the state government to take action.
In June the state’s auditor
general found the government had not set targets to reduce the
harm caused by poker machines and could not confidently state if
it was protecting people.
The auditor general also said the
NSW government was doing “relatively little” to assess whether
pubs and clubs were identifying and preventing gambling harm at
their venues.
Harris has repeatedly denied
accusations that the state government has not done enough to
address the problem, saying it takes gambling harm minimisation
seriously.
“These changes are a continuation
of measures we are making to protect people in NSW who are
experiencing harm,” Harris said.