Tasmania’s gambling regulator has told a parliamentary inquiry that the state government’s replacement poker machine measures could, taken together, be more harmful than existing arrangements.
Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission Chair Jenny Cranston gave the assessment at a Legislative Council hearing on 25 September, responding to a question from independent MLC Meg Webb.
The Government deferred a planned mandatory pre-commitment card in November 2024, citing concerns about complexity, cost and timing. The card was designed with default loss limits of AU$100 ($70) a day and AU$5,000 a year. Premier Jeremy Rockliff later said Tasmania would not proceed without a national approach.
The replacement package includes longer mandatory gaming-room closures, facial recognition, a ticket-in, ticket-out system and ATMs in hotels and clubs. The ATMs would have facial recognition and an AU$400 daily withdrawal limit.
Cranston said the commission had not been consulted on the package. She acknowledged that facial recognition could make the ATMs safer, but raised concerns about easier access to cash and money-laundering risks associated with ticket-in, ticket-out.
Cranston also questioned the effect of longer closures, saying only around five venues had been trading after 2am. She said a July direction from Treasurer Eric Abetz had displaced the commission’s proposed uniform 2am-to-9am closure hours. The commission was considering the implications for its independence, she told the inquiry.
Rockliff defended the changes on Friday, pointing to an increase in mandatory closure time from four to seven hours as a harm minimisation measure.
The contrasting assessments come as the inquiry examines how the Government developed its alternative policy.
An earlier report on the parliamentary inquiry set out its focus on the evidence and consultation behind the policy reversal. The commission had already raised concerns in July about ATMs and ticket-in, ticket-out, saying it had not been consulted before the replacement measures went to Cabinet.
In a separate policy dispute, Tasmania’s Legislative Council has pressed the Rockliff Government for an update on a proposed ban on gambling advertising and sponsorship at state-owned or state-funded venues.
The deferred card was designed with default loss limits of AU$100 a day, AU$500 a month and AU$5,000 a year
