Star Entertainment backs NSW Premier's initiative to convert poker machines to cashless technology

Australian casino heavyweight Star Entertainment Group is backing New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet’s push to convert the state’s 95,000 poker machines to cashless technology and urges NSW pubs and clubs to embrace the change in a “timely fashion."

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, the group, which owns Sydney’s largest casino, stated it was spending millions of dollars on developing and implementing cashless technology in its casinos, but noted “meaningful transition could not occur until pubs and clubs did the same.”

While the firm's flagship Pyrmont venue has poker machine exclusivity in NSW casinos, its machines make up just 2% of all machines across the state once pubs and clubs are factored in. 

The push for cashless gaming, to which Perrottet to in November, has triggered a response from ClubsNSW and the Australian Hotels Association, along with threats to campaign against pro-reform MPs ahead of the March 25 state election. 

Despite the backlash, a spokesperson for Star said the firm believes industry-wide use of the technology is the best way to proceed, the aforementioned source reported.  “Unless cashless is embraced industry-wide and in a timely fashion, how can the government address the issues and achieve the results it has outlined?" the person said. "The Star supports the government’s move towards cashless play across the industry.”

The comments will be welcomed by gambling reform advocates but will most likely be interpreted by the pubs and clubs lobby as an attempt to make sure other poker machine owners operate on the same playing field as casinos.

The Star and its competitor at Barangaroo, Crown Resorts, signed an agreement with the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) to transition to cashless gaming in May 2021. 

The agreement was one of the requirements imposed on Crown by the regulator to regain its casino license after an inquiry found it unsuitable to hold one due to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism failings exposed three months earlier.  

Star, which lost its NSW casino license in October, will operate under the regulator’s independent manager Nicholas Weeks until 2024. It was also fined AUD 100 million by the NSW casino regulator. 

While the Star has adopted a supportive posture on cashless gaming, elsewhere it is locked in a battle with the NSW government after Treasurer Matt Kean proposed a tax increase on its Sydney casino’s table games and poker machines in December. The announcement has wiped more than AUD 600 million off its market value. 

Under the proposal, casino poker machines will attract a top tax rate of 60.67% from July 2023, bringing NSW in line with new taxation rates announced in Victoria’s state budget. It will apply only to machines in the state’s casinos and not those in pubs and clubs.

The casino operator is also facing fines totaling hundreds of millions of dollars after AUSTRAC launched civil penalty proceedings against it for alleged systemic non-compliance with anti-money laundering laws. 

The Star’s comments on Perrottet’s cashless gaming plan were made three days after NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told the Herald that the misuse of cash in the gambling system was an “area of concern” that had been highlighted by a damning state Crime Commission investigation into the billions of dollars being laundered through poker machines every year. 

The introduction of mandatory cashless gaming cards, a recommendation from the Crime Commission inquiry, would need to go to cabinet, and Perrottet will also need to convince Nationals colleagues who have not committed to supporting the technology.

ClubsNSW and the Australian Hotels Association have previously warned the cost of the measure would force venues to impose job cuts, a claim disputed by the United Workers Union which represents the industry’s employees. 

ClubsNSW launched the statewide “Reform the Right Way” campaign in December, with a call for “practical and proportionate reform." The action singled out independents and the Greens, while inviting people to email their local MP.

The government scrapped a bill to reform registered clubs in November, which would have allowed facial recognition technology in pubs and clubs to exclude those from venues who had self-identified as problem gamblers.