FAQ

• Isn’t mandatory pre-commitment a social good?

  It is a political deal between Julia Gillard and Andrew Wilkie and binds the Prime Minister to implement it at any cost. If the Government was serious about wanting to address problem gambling, why did the agreement between Ms Gillard and Mr Wilkie not include one cent for problem gambling counseling or treatment?

  
  

• Isn’t the Government simply implementing the recommendations of the Productivity Commission report?

  No. The Productivity Commission recommended implementation of voluntary pre-commitment, which industry supports, followed by a trial of mandatory pre-commitment.  This trial would substantiate whether a mandatory system had sufficient advantages to proceed with its implementation. 
  

  
  

• Have there been any trials of mandatory pre-commitment in Australia?

  No.  Mr Wilkie does not want a trial, nor will he compromise on the strict 2014 deadline for implementation (longer for smaller venues).  Therefore the Government has not established a trial, nor undertaken a cost benefit analysis or regulatory impact statement for the proposal.  It is just charging ahead at Mr Wilkie’s behest.  
  

  
  

• Won’t mandatory pre-commitment system reduce problem gambling?

  Problem gamblers will be free to set high limits, or even no limit. Even if they reach their limit, they will be free to gamble at the TAB, or online.  To reduce their gambling expenditure, problem gamblers need intervention and treatment, not a licence to gamble.  
  

  
  

• Can’t problem gamblers make responsible choices about betting limits?

  Problem gamblers have problems with impulse control.  Australia’s leading problem gambling researchers and academics do not believe these gamblers can set affordable limits, in order to satisfy their addiction.  
  

  
  

• Do Australian poker machine players spend on average $1,200 an hour?

  No. The average spend per hour on a poker machine is $11.  Even at the largest club in Australia, the average hourly spend per machine is just $29.

• Does Australia have 50% of the world’s poker machines?

  No. It is just over 2% and falling. 
  

  
  

• Aren’t poker machines just a licence to print money?

  The average daily revenue per machine in clubs in NSW is $130, before tax and other expenses. There are 250 small clubs with average daily revenue per machine of $25 or less. 
  

  
  

• Don’t experts and gambling counselors support mandatory pre-commitment?

  A range of problem gambling experts including Professor Alex Blaszczynski from the University of Sydney and Dr Sally Gainsbury from Southern Cross University have expressed serious concerns about mandatory pre-commitment. Problem gambling counsellors have called mandatory pre-commitment a ‘retrograde action’ that will delay problem gamblers from seeking help.  The Salvation Army supports a voluntary system, and has called for trials of mandatory pre-commitment.  
  

  
  

• Isn’t problem gambling getting worse in Australia?

  The problem gambling prevalence rate has fallen in every Australian jurisdiction over the last ten years.  NSW has seen the rate of problem gambling halve to 0.4% from 2006 to 2008. In Queensland problem gambling has also fallen to 0.37% of the adult population. Furthermore, the number of calls to the 24 hour a day counseling service “G line” has declined by almost half over the past decade despite record funding. 
  

  
  

• Won’t recreational gamblers be excluded from the mandatory pre-commitment scheme?

  Mandatory pre-commitment captures all players and treats everyone as a problem gambler. People who gamble responsibly or recreationally will still be required to register and obtain a card, which is in effect a ‘licence to gamble’.  The gambler’s details will be stored on a national database. 
  

  
  

• Won’t low intensity machines avoid the mandatory pre-commitment scheme?

  There is nothing called a low intensity gaming machine anywhere in Australia. To replace half of Australia’s poker machines with “low intensity” machines would cost clubs and hotels up to $3 billion to install. These machines would also simply offer problem gamblers a second poker machine on which to play.
  

  
  

• Is industry opposed to pre-commitment?

  The industry is not opposed to pre-commitment. We are opposed to the scheme being mandatory.  It will be effective for those who use it as a budgeting mechanism, as part of a suite of responsible gambling measures that ensure harm minimisation for gamblers. 
  

  
  

• Isn’t the cost to implement mandatory pre-commitment is the same as voluntary pre-commitment?

  No.  A mandatory system is significantly more expensive to implement, as all machines need to be linked and once a player’s limit was reached, it would need to bar access for every machine in the country.  Every machine would need a hardware or software upgrade, and older machines would need to be replaced.  Also, many venues have already implemented a voluntary system and this technology would need to be replaced under a mandatory scheme.  
  

  
  

• Don’t clubs profit from gambling?

  Community clubs are not-for-profit, member-driven and community-orientated associations of people. They support a wide range of causes, including sporting teams and local charities. No one can personally profit from club operation and any net financial surplus must be returned to members and the local community. 
  

  
  

• How will mandatory pre-commitment affect my local not-for-profit community club?

  There is a real risk that many community clubs will simply close their doors, as a mandatory scheme is expensive to implement. The cost of implementation along with the loss of revenue from recreational players (who will not register), could send many clubs bankrupt and will reduce jobs in the industry.
  

  
  

• Hasn’t mandatory pre-commitment been a success in Norway?

  The mandatory pre-commitment scheme in Norway has failed. The rate of serious problem gambling has gone from 1.3 per cent in 2007 (just before the system was introduced) to 2.1 per cent in 2010.  Gamblers have simply switched from poker machines to the internet. 
  

  
  

• Will clubs and pubs be able to meet the 2014 deadline to install mandatory pre-commitment (2018 for smaller venues)?

  Norway is barely one third of the size of NSW, and yet the Norwegian Government has managed to install just 2,300 mandatory pre-commitment machines in the last 2 years. At that rate it’ll take more than 170 years to network all of Australia.  Each machine will have to be field tested and certified, and Australia has 200,000 machines.