{"id":583958,"date":"2026-07-13T20:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T20:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/583958\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T20:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T20:31:15","slug":"new-pokies-policies-will-make-things-worse-for-problem-gamblers-tasmanias-gaming-commission-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/583958\/","title":{"rendered":"New pokies policies will make things worse for problem gamblers, Tasmania’s gaming commission says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tasmanian government’s new poker machine policies will “take Tasmania backwards” on harm reduction and make things worse for problem gamblers, the state’s gaming regulator says.<\/p>\n

Treasurer Eric Abetz announced a new suite of policies in January<\/a> after the government stalled the rollout of a new mandatory pre-commitment card.<\/p>\n

The new policies included ATMs in venues, a ticket-in ticket-out (TITO) system for poker machines, and facial recognition technology in venues to identify people on the self-exclusion scheme.<\/p>\n

In letters obtained by the ABC under right-to-information laws, the Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission outlined a range of concerns to Mr Abetz.<\/p>\n

In a joint letter signed by the three commissioners, they confirmed Mr Abetz had not consulted with them prior to taking the new policies to cabinet for approval.<\/p>\n

“The commission had not been consulted in any way concerning these measures,” a March 31 letter reads.<\/p>\n

“We are concerned that many will not deliver protections from gambling harm, but in fact will have the opposite effect, and take Tasmania backwards from where it currently is.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The commission has been directed to progressively implement the new policies by mid-2028.<\/p>\n

Access to ATMs could create ‘greater harm’, commissioners say<\/p>\n

The commission was particularly concerned with the ATM and TITO policies.<\/p>\n

Under the changes, pubs and clubs will be able to install ATMs with a $400 withdrawal limit, fitted with facial recognition technology; at the moment, up to $200 cash can be withdrawn via EFTPOS.<\/p>\n

“We see this initiative as potentially creating greater harm rather than minimising or preventing it,” the commissioners’ letter reads.<\/p>\n

“Ready availability to additional cash beyond what is brought into a venue allows for an immediate response to chasing losses on [poker machines] and is why this is seen as such a harmful initiative.”<\/p>\n

\"Gambling<\/p>\n

The commission says some of the new measures could make things worse for problem gamblers. (Unsplash<\/a>: Erik Mclean<\/a>)<\/p>\n

During the policy announcement and in the letters, Mr Abetz said the TITO policy would require players to convert up to $100 cash into tickets to insert into the poker machines, without a limit on tickets.<\/p>\n

This figure later increased to $200 per ticket.<\/p>\n

Commissioners doubted whether this system would reduce harm.<\/p>\n

“There is no evidence to indicate that ease and speed will, or is even likely to, result in protection from harm,” they wrote to Mr Abetz.<\/p>\n

“Notably, there is strong evidence to suggest that ‘tap and go’ and TITO systems can result in an increased ‘spending effect’ of up to 20 per cent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

The commission wanted trading hours to be the same at all venues to prevent problem gamblers moving from one to another. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

They agreed with concerns the TITO system could introduce the risk of money laundering into Tasmanian venues.<\/a><\/p>\n

Another new measure is to reduce <\/strong>the operating times of pokies venues from 20 to 17 hours a day.<\/p>\n

The commission argued trading hours should be the same for all venues, rather than the potential for staggered opening hours, but this was not adopted.<\/p>\n

“The commission has evidence of players, including those self excluded, moving from one venue to the next in the small hours of the day, a practice exacerbating harm to problem gamblers,” they wrote.<\/p>\n

Treasurer defends new policies<\/p>\n

Mr Abetz met with the commission two days after they sent the letter, and wrote back on April 17 defending the new measures.<\/p>\n

He described them as being proportional, practical and having “respect for personal agency”.<\/p>\n

“It is critical to look at the package as a whole, with each measure reinforcing the others, rather than as isolated initiatives,” Mr Abetz wrote.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Eric Abetz says the new measures should be looked at as a whole rather than in isolation. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

He disagreed with the commission over its comments on the TITO system, which he said “does not increase a player’s total available funds”.<\/p>\n

“Rather, it removes the ability to continuously load machines using large quantities of coins and enables modern system controls,” Mr Abetz wrote.<\/p>\n

He argued the introduction of ATMs into venues would assist with the facial recognition technology and enable limits to be enforced.<\/p>\n

Pokies losses increasing<\/p>\n

After announcing the new policies, Mr Abetz faced extensive questioning in parliament over who he had consulted with.<\/p>\n

The hospitality sector had consistently argued against the mandatory pre-commitment card<\/a>, but appeared supportive of the new suite of policies.<\/p>\n

In March, Mr Abetz told parliament that it was “an iterative process”.<\/p>\n

“If you talk to our hoteliers, the insurance policies they have to take, for example, for keeping huge amounts of cash on their premises can be removed,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That will be a financial burden removed from them.”<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

The hospitality sector appears supportive of the government’s new measures. (ABC News: Laura Beavis)<\/p>\n

Labor was supportive of the new policies in principle, having opposed the pre-commitment card.<\/p>\n

Pokies losses have consistently increased since the end of COVID.<\/p>\n

In May alone, players lost more than $17.7 million.<\/p>\n

Venues were given ownership of their own poker machine licences from July 2023 when the government ended Federal Group’s monopoly model.<\/p>\n

Data from the Treasury Department showed the venue’s profits have increased since the model changed, with a significant increase in the six months to December last year.<\/p>\n

\"Meg<\/p>\n

Meg Webb says the government should have consulted the commission. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)<\/p>\n

Nelson independent MP Meg Webb, who has campaigned heavily for pokies harm reduction including mandatory pre-commitment, said it was concerning that the commission was not consulted.<\/p>\n

“The Rockliff government has intentionally chosen not to seek advice from the independent, expert gaming commission in developing new measures to reduce pokies harm,” she said.<\/p>\n

“And compounds this by deliberately refusing to heed the commission’s strong warnings that the government’s new measures will in fact cause more harm.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tasmanian government’s new poker machine policies will “take Tasmania backwards” on harm reduction and make things worse…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[276],"tags":[19030,18,67481,248111,5256,248113,135,19,17,248108,94020,167,502,36227,248112,13380,248109,248110],"class_list":["post-583958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-atm","tag-eire","tag-eric-abetz","tag-federal-group","tag-gambling","tag-gaming-card","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-liquor-and-gaming-commission","tag-meg-webb","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-policies","tag-pre-commitment","tag-tasmania","tag-ticket-in-ticket-out","tag-tito"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}