Causes of internal government conflict No Cash Games Work in New South Wales (NSW)

NSW is thinking about making all casinos and other places where people gamble not accept cash. But political differences may have led to trouble.

Concerns about abuse and money laundering in Australia’s gaming industry led to the rise of cashless gaming. Premier Dominic Perrottet backs the change as pilot programs in NSW try to deal with these charges.

He doesn’t seem to have the support of the government. The Guardian says that opposition is slowing down legislative efforts.

Avoid Shaming Gambling

David Elliott, who is in charge of transportation, is against making gambling cashless. He knew that lawmakers didn’t believe going cashless wouldn’t “demonize” some gambling.

Elliott thinks that Perrottet’s idea to make slot machines in NSW work without cash wouldn’t solve the problem. It would put slot machine gamblers in the background and ignore lottery players.

Elliott doesn’t agree with this “holistic approach.” Even the lawmakers in Perrottet’s cabinet are against the idea, causing a split.

Only if all gambling in NSW was done without cash would it work. It would be hard to put into place and probably cause fewer people to play games. State tax revenue decreases.

Perrottet lets you play games without cash, but it’s not required. The Crime Commission of NSW wants it to be a law.

This group says that gambling machines are a system for laundering money. The agency’s data, which were used to back up this claim, were later shown to be wrong.

Divide

Hugh McDermott and Greg Warren, both MPs, applauded after the report. McDermott has said that slot machines can’t be used to launder enough money to be a good way to move money. He also said that the commission was trying to hide the fact that it couldn’t fight serious crime.

Rob Stokes supports Perrottet. He is very against gambling in NSW and backs any change he thinks will make it better, even if it doesn’t work.

Mark Morey, who is in charge of the Labor Council of New South Wales, doesn’t agree. It backs unions for state workers.

Morey told The Sydney Morning Herald that it should be “obvious” for lawmakers to allow gambling without cash. He says that the gaming business uses “deceptive practices” to keep its market share and grow it.

All the people who are against cashless gambling say that Australia has a lot of problem gamblers. People who are against gambling without cash say that 80% of Americans gamble. But most do it in a good way.

Studies have shown that one percent of Americans have a “gambling problem.”

Perrottet promises changes despite conflict. Those depend on who wins the war.