Record $9.3 billion lost as gambling reform stalls

Punters lost a record $9.3 billion on NSW poker machines last year – a surge of 8 per cent on the previous 12 months – as a sophisticated lobbying effort by the gambling industry stalls progress on political pledges to reduce harm in suburbs across Sydney.

Newly released figures reveal $785 million was lost in the Canterbury-Bankstown area alone, as well as $720 million in Fairfield, $535 million in the Cumberland local government area, $420 million in central Sydney and $355 million on the Central Coast.

“It beggars belief that $9.3 billion was lost in one year down the throats of these greedy machines,” said Wesley Mission chief executive and gambling reform advocate Reverend Stu Cameron.

“Behind that number are people skipping meals, missing rent and mortgage payments and families under intolerable strain, too often leading to awful outcomes, like domestic and family violence.

“Women and kids are paying the highest price for our state’s continued pokies addiction.”

The losses represent about $179 million each week – or $1.1 million per hour – with most of the damage occurring in some of Sydney’s most disadvantaged suburbs, according to the Liquor and Gaming NSW report.

The state government’s independent panel on gambling reform produced a series of harm minimisation recommendations in December 2024 which were savaged by the pubs and clubs industry as going too far, and by reform advocates as not doing enough.

Despite Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris recently telling MPs he would “soon” announce a package of gambling reform measures, the Herald understands the government’s response to the panel’s report is still months away.

The pubs and clubs industry has been working to frustrate reform after a 2022 NSW Crime Commission report revealed criminals were funnelling billions of dollars in cash through poker machines every year in NSW and nominated mandatory cashless gaming cards as the most effective way to solve the problem.

In the three years since the bombshell warning heaped pressure on both sides of politics to do more, NSW punters have lost a total of $27 billion through poker machines.

That is equivalent to the cost of the Metro West project, a 24-kilometre underground rail line under construction between the CBD and Westmead. The $27 billion is also equivalent to the cost of building nearly 14 new hospitals on the same scale as the Bankstown Hospital redevelopment, or roughly the same as what’s spent running the NSW education system for a year.

Cameron said a window to act emerged before the last election but the years since have been “go-slow at best”.

“Despite our best efforts, despite overwhelming community support, despite the inarguable economic and social evidence for reform, the status quo could prevail,” he said. “As [former US president] Ronald Reagan reportedly said, ‘status quo is Latin for the mess we’re in’.”

Asked in parliament whether losing $26 million a day was acceptable, Harris replied the figures must be examined “in context”.

“Whilst those figures are confronting—and, absolutely, they are confronting—in NSW and in Australia, we have a free country,” he said.

Harris said he had asked officials why losses were going up during a cost-of-living crisis. He then claimed certain parts of the economy have more disposable income at the moment.

“They may not have a mortgage, or they may not be paying rent. The biggest group of players is 18- to 24-year-olds. They may be living at home,” he said.

Upper house Liberal MP Scott Farlow challenged Harris on whether Canterbury-Bankstown local government area had more disposable income than most, or whether “it shows a problem with gambling in that area”.

“It could be both,” Harris replied.

Last week, a study by researchers at the Australian National University using police data concluded there was a clear association between the number of gaming machines in an area and the police-recorded domestic violence rates.

In some parts of NSW, poker machines had a particularly strong effect on these rates, including in metropolitan Sydney and to the state’s north.

There are about 87,800 machines operating in clubs and pubs across NSW – a number second only in the world to the US state of Nevada.

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