Bathurst RSL Club chief executive officer Peter Sargent outlines concerns about mandatory cashless gaming card push

That's Bathurst RSL Club chief executive officer Peter Sargent's summary of the club's stance on the poker machine changes being sought by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, which include a cashless gaming card.

Mr Perrottet, who says his planned mandatory cashless gaming card will include spending limits, has been backed in his reform plans by Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey and NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb, among others.

NSW Opposition leader Chris Minns, meanwhile, is instead proposing a mandatory cashless gaming trial in some of the state's pubs and clubs.

Mr Sargent said the clubs industry wasn't opposed to gaming reform and did, in fact, support it.

"We've already demonstrated that by proactively going to government proposing a mandatory gaming code of practice for the industry to improve protections, including things like facial recognition software to help prevent self-excluded or banned persons from accessing gaming facilities, and improved exclusion mechanisms including third-party initiated exclusions," he said.

"We want to work with government to improve things, but they have to be willing to listen."

The Premier's push comes after the NSW Crime Commission recommended a cashless gaming card in a report examining money laundering.

Senior NSW Coalition minister Rob Stokes, meanwhile, said in a speech last year that NSW needed to "break our addiction to gambling".

Mr Sargent said it was the mandatory aspect of the mandatory cashless gaming cards that was a concern for clubs.

"If this compulsory card is implemented, the days of putting $20 or $30 cash into the pokies while having a drink with your mates will be gone," he said.

"A mandatory government card will most likely just stop casual gamblers from having a punt, and problem gamblers will just move online.

"During COVID times, when venues were closed, online betting jumped about 70 per cent. So, instead of having to actually leave the house and physically go to a club or pub to have a punt, where you're surrounded by people and there are player protection measures in place, people will just load up their gambling accounts in the privacy of their own homes."

Mr Sargent said those who gamble in a club are in a controlled environment - "you have to prove who you are to even walk in the door in a club" - and the loss of revenue as casual punters decide not to bother because of the cashless gaming card would hit small, regional clubs hardest.

He said the Crime Commission report used as the basis to support the proposal actually found that the use of poker machines to "clean" large amounts of cash is both "high risk and inefficient" and is therefore "not widespread".

"Premier Perrottet said that poker machines are the 'last bastion' of the cash economy. Well, that's just not true," he said.

"What about all the other businesses that still take cash - takeaway food shops, hairdressers, barbers, tradespeople, restaurants, cafes, all the retail stores, the list goes on.

"Is the government's next step to force people to stop using cash completely? It's a slippery slope."

He said if the problem was the proceeds of crime being spent on poker machine gambling, the fact was that the proceeds of crime could be spent anywhere - from jet skis to jewellery to cars and even to groceries.

"Anyone that accepts cash, there's the potential for that," he said.

Mr Perrottet, for his part, has indicated that he is not for turning on the mandatory cashless gaming card reform.

"I didn't get into politics to care about vested interests. I got into politics to care about the people of NSW," the Sydney Morning Herald reported the Premier as saying this week.

"I got a question yesterday from a journalist in relation to some report that said that people aren't interested in it [gaming reform], that it's not a 'vote changer.' It's not about votes."

The Premier said he got into politics "to do what's right".

The Herald reported that Deputy Premier and Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said on Sunday that he was concerned about the mandatory cashless card's impact on regional clubs, but insisted the NSW Premier had his full support.

"I've said in the past that there was a big difference between a large venue in the city versus a small venue in the bush. And that's why the path there needs to be a sensible one," the Herald reported him saying.

"We need to address the problems that were handed down by the Crime Commission and that's exactly what we are looking at."

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