The NSW government’s cashless gaming trial, which had limited participants, has recommended that cash should stay in gaming to a certain extent.

The expert panel found that of the 243 people who initially signed up for the trial, there were only 14 “genuine and active users, that had used the technology for at least two or more days”, and were therefore included in the analysis of player data.

The final report from the Independent Panel on Gaming Reform concluded that because of this “reluctance from patrons to engage with the technology”, the state government should implement a mandatory statewide account-based gaming system by 2028 with patrons still able to use a limited amount of cash.

The state government dedicated $3.4 million to fund the trial and its evaluation.

The evaluation done by consultancy company 3Arc Social stated that because of the very small sample size it would be “insufficient to draw statistically robust conclusions about the impact of the technology on users”.

Trial was ‘a great success’ despite participant numbers

The panel’s report claimed that the trial had been “a great success” and that its value should not be “overlooked or understated”.

The Roadmap for Gaming Reform report’s key findings focused on the phased mandatory implementation of the statewide account-based gaming system.

They said it would ensure “meaningful and effective anti-money laundering and harm minimisation”.

“A mandatory account-based gaming system would require a player identity to be established (i.e. via a player gaming account) to enable electronic gambling machines for use. This means physical cards or digital wallets could be used by patrons, linked to an account,” the report read.

The report also stated that there should be an “ongoing role for cash, to a certain limit, when linked to identity”.

“The account-based gaming system should permit the continued use of cash to top up a player account (whether at cashier or at gaming machine) up to a certain amount (this daily cash deposit threshold to be determined by the NSW government).”

Chair of the Independent Panel, Michael Foggo, said the purpose of the phased roll out and decision to keep a limited amount of cash in gaming was to “bring people along” with the idea of account-based gaming.

“We’ve already had … a fairly large degree of pushback from patrons in term of they don’t want to start doing this because they feel that there are cyber security issues, there’s privacy issues, and banks will be more in tune to how much they spend on gambling,” he noted.

Mr Foggo also said he was not surprised by the lack of active users in the trial and that contributed to the need to make the technology mandatory.

“I don’t see the point of implementing a system that nobody uses.”

The panel concluded that additional work, including an analysis on the impact to industry, would be required before implementing mandatory account-based gaming.

‘Embarrassing and not credible’

ClubsNSW said in its submission that “with only 14 genuine and active users participating in the trial, such a low adoption should necessitate a cautious, measured, voluntary approach to implementation of account-based gaming, rather than a short time frame for a statewide, mandatory rollout”.

The Australian Hotel Association of NSW (AHA NSW) provided feedback on the draft recommendations and described the trial’s findings as “embarrassing and not credible”.

AHA NSW said: “The ‘research report’ the executive of the panel has relied on consists of a survey of only two players and an interview of one player — further, the two players surveyed did not use the mandatory account-based technology that has been recommended.”

“Given the non-existence of evidence, AHA NSW object to formal recommendations on the mandating of account-based gaming being included in the roadmap.”

Mr Foggo dismissed the association’s description of the trial and defended the panel’s recommendations as “supportable”.

NSW Council of Social Service CEO Cara Varian told the ABC she fully supports the findings.

“Mandatory and universal account-based gaming is the only way we will achieve meaningful reform on gambling harm reduction and anti-money laundering,” Ms Varian said.

“Cash can have a place and it’s really important that whatever system that we put in place is easy for people to use and they have confidence in it.”

Government to consider recommendations

In a statement provided to the ABC, a spokesperson for the Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris said it would consider the recommendations and respond in due course.

“The 30 recommendations contained in the 530-page report flag significant complexities and the NSW government will be taking its time to work through them,” the spokesperson said.

Premier Chris Minns committed to the trial of cashless gaming on 500 poker machines ahead of the 2023 state election in a bid to reduce gambling harms.

The election commitment came in the wake of a report by the NSW Crime Commission that found poker machines in the state’s pubs and clubs were being used to funnel billions of dollars in “dirty cash”.