Despite recent media reports to the contrary, ClubsNSW and its member clubs support cashless gaming technology and have advocated for its introduction for more than five years.

ClubsNSW was the first to put forward the idea of digital payments with built-in responsible gambling tools for poker machines back in 2016, and followed up in 2018 by including a commitment to a digital wallet trial in its MoU with the NSW Government. That trial is currently underway.

ClubsNSW Chairman Dr George Peponis OAM said while some have attempted to misrepresent the club industry’s position on cashless gaming, it has a long track record of support for digital payment options and responsible gambling.

“We know that society is moving towards a cashless economy, which is why we already have a digital wallet trial underway,” Dr Peponis said.

“It’s our belief that people should have the ability to pay for play on a poker machine using cash or digital technology — just as they have options when it comes to paying for everything else.

“We are not convinced that an untested mandatory cashless card is the way to go. The international experience demonstrates that forcing players to use cards drives recreational players to other forms of gambling, in particular to unregulated online casinos, and can exacerbate problem gambling.

“It’s worth remembering that the NSW Crime Commission’s recommendation for a mandatory cashless card was outlined in a report following the inquiry into money laundering via poker machines — not an inquiry into responsible gambling.

“That same report stated using gaming machines to clean large quantities of dirty money is ‘high risk and inefficient’ and that the practice is ‘not widespread’ in the industry.

“Rather than banning cash, we support banning criminals and problem gamblers from club gaming rooms.”

In October 2022, ClubsNSW announced plans to roll out facial recognition technology in the gaming areas of clubs across the state to stop banned persons entering clubs.

“Facial recognition technology will become a major part of our existing Multi-Venue Self-Exclusion system, which prevents excluded persons from entering the gaming areas of clubs. This system will instantly detect excluded individuals and prevent them from gambling in any pub or club in New South Wales.”