New South Wales government prioritising player protection in sweeping gambling reform proposals

The New South Wales government announced its NSW Gaming Reform package on Tuesday, taking an evidence-based approach to player protection.

The New South Wales government, led by Chris Minns, said it was delivering on a “key election commitment” by providing stronger protections against gambling harm while applying tougher rules to marketing of the activity.

The reforms are based on recommendations from its Independent Panel for Gaming Reform as well as wider discussions with stakeholders and the New South Wales community.

The government also highlighted the NSW Gambling Survey 2024, which found 3.1% of the state’s adult population experienced gambling of moderate risk, while 0.9% experienced high-risk gambling.

David Harris, the New South Wales minister for gaming and racing, framed the package as a broad and evidence-based overhaul combining tighter regulation, new technology and stronger safeguards to reduce gambling harm while supporting the industry.

The government has committed to investing AU$95.2 million (US$68.1 million) over four years to fund the reforms.

“These are common sense reforms that have been developed alongside industry, harm minimisation groups, stakeholders and privacy experts to address gambling harm while supporting the industry and protecting the livelihoods of the many people it employs,” Harris outlined.

“Our government will continually explore and implement emerging technology to ensure NSW has the most up-to-date safety measures available built into our gambling industry.”

As of yet, the timeline for the legislation supporting the NSW Gaming Reform package has not been made clear.

What do the gambling reforms include?

The NSW Gaming Reform package introduced a statewide exclusion register, supported by mandatory facial recognition technology at the entrance of all gaming rooms.

Currently, the voluntary self-exclusion agreement is only available for certain hotels and clubs, while its enforcement is largely down to venues and their staff.

A third-party exclusion scheme has also been introduced, allowing for friends and family to initiate exclusions for those at risk of excessive gambling, as well as venues and the police.

The package would reduce the number of poker machines from the current figure of 87,000 across 2,100 clubs and hotels.

The government aims to achieve this by increasing the forfeiture rate when gaming machine entitlements are traded from one in three to one in two.

A “sinking cap” has also been introduced, with the statewide cap falling as gaming machine entitlements are removed from circulation.

Additionally, the government is pushing for account-based play in the future, which would enable more visibility over who is playing.

The government acknowledged that much of machine gaming infrastructure is reliant on legacy technology.

With that in mind, the government plans to upgrade the Central Monitoring System over the next two years to allow a smoother transition towards account-based play.

Stronger restrictions on advertising in New South Wales

The NSW Gaming Reform Package also aims to boost protections against harmful advertising.

As part of this, gaming-related VIP programmes would be banned, while there would also be a block on all gambling advertising on New South Wales government and council-owned assets.

Only after receiving express consent would betting service providers be permitted to market directly to people through phone calls, emails or text messages.

New transparency requirements would also be applied to gambling promotions by affiliates and influencers, with restrictions on commissions for higher-risk gambling products.

Beyond new ad restrictions, the New South Wales government has also committed to developing a strategy to reduce harms from online gambling, while also strengthening enforcement against companies operating illegally, including new offences and tougher penalties.