Second Reading – Gambling Legislation Amendment (Pre-commitment and Carded Play) Bill 2025

Before I continue, I would like to acknowledge the member for Eureka’s courageous contribution in sharing her own experiences and her own impacts. I have a little story to share myself a little bit more into my contribution. But it does make you stop, and it actually really reminds you of the significant impact that gambling harm does have, and not just on the person but on the whole family, friends and those that can be impacted.

The major concern I have with this bill is that there has been no consultation or evidence that these reforms will minimise harm. Despite government claims, there is little evidence this policy will reduce problem gambling. Whether this bill is the best way to address harm from pokie machines is very debatable. Victoria already has a voluntary carded system that allows patrons playing on gaming machines to set time and spending limits for their play on pokies. YourPlay is widely considered to be a failure as few did agree to sign up. In the second-reading speech the minister claimed that ‘voluntary requirements have been stigmatising’ and described the mandatory version as ‘standardising its use’. It is not standardising, it is compulsory.

Under these changes, ultimately no person in Victoria will be able to play pokies without having to first sign up to a card system, requiring them to hand over and prove their ID. As you can imagine, many people have an issue with privacy. Whilst there are some changes in this bill that may reduce the amount of spending on pokies at venues, with slower spin times aiming to decrease the amount of money going into the machine over a period of time, we know there are many other ways to gamble ‍– and won’t a person wanting to gamble or with an addiction just find another way? Gambling harm is not just confined to the local pokie venues. Gambling can take place with the touch of a button on our phones and online and without any real legal oversight. This reform is patchy and misses the mark, as this is only aimed at a portion of those that are experiencing gambling harm.

I have seen firsthand how younger people are being impacted by gambling addiction on their phones. I have shared this story before in this place. One of my closest friends’ 18-year-old son was severely impacted by gambling harm. He was at university and was gambling on his phone. He ended up having to leave university due to his mental ill health, associated with the consequences of this addiction. It was alarming to hear that he said, particularly, as he was recovering and taking stock of what had happened to him, ‘So many others are doing it.’ It almost made it sound like it was the norm. Whilst this bill is only addressing gaming machines, the impact of gambling, as I said, is so much broader.

The bill also gives the minister the power to conduct a pilot of a carded play system. This will occur later this year and will take place for three months and across 40 venues. The government has not been able to explain how it will recruit venues for this pilot. This has raised alarm bells across the industry, and there is no indication of which venues are going to be selected and the extent of the financial impact that they will bear. Once the pilot has concluded, the mandatory carded play system will take effect and be rolled out across the state on all gaming machines by the end of this year. Industry was taken by surprise, particularly given pubs and clubs have not long ago begun a 20-year licence and sale period of 10 plus 10 in 2022. There is also genuine concern from my local venues that patrons faced with having to register to play pokies in Victoria will simply go across the neighbouring border, where they do not have to register. In some cases in my electorate this is less than a 30-minute drive. This takes us back to the 1980s, before pokies hit Victoria, taking revenue directly away from local businesses. Although the bill gives the minister power to make directions on a geographic basis, there is no commitment from the government on a border bubble or similar.

As I have mentioned, one of the main amendments that the bill makes is to introduce new spin rate limits on new electronic gaming machines in a bid to slow down the rate of play and player loss. The expectation is that players will make more informed decisions about their gambling behaviour by tracking their spending and setting limits.

This bill does give the government the power to set requirements for carded play on gaming machines in hotels and clubs. Under these reforms included in the bill, players will be required to insert a player card into an electronic gaming machine in order for it to operate. In addition, the precommitment system will enable players to set limits on their spending before they even begin gambling. We know that not all people attending a venue with pokie machines have a gambling problem, and many just go to the local pub for a meal and social connection. I think we just heard that over here from the member on his feet prior to me – and I think we might need to have a bit of a discussion; it sounds like he is having lots of fun. I think it is a good point. If we can manage, obviously, our gambling behaviours, that is the point, and I think we all have had the odd little flutter.

Just recently I was on a girls weekend. We were at Crown for dinner, and we thought we would go into Crown and put in our $20. I did not know you could not actually put cash into machines anymore. So I had my $20 in my pocket, knowing that that was all that I would spend, and then I had to go and register. I was actually quite surprised about the questions being asked: ‘How much do you want to spend?’; ‘How much time do you want to take to spend that amount of money?’ It was quite interesting for someone that has been there twice, probably, in 12 months. But there is social gambling, and it should be something that is considered. I think this bill does raise concerns with that, because at a lot of venues that have people coming in to socialise and just to have a night out, if people have to register, it may put them off actually going out and going to that venue or spending money. This is a big concern. Responsible gambling is something that is a reality, and we also want to see businesses succeeding and not suffering from these unexpected and unplanned changes. Many of these businesses put money back into our communities, but it is about the management and balance between responsible gambling and addiction.

We have heard from many other speakers of the impact that gambling addiction can have on people’s lives and families and the broader community. We know that gambling harm is not just an individual issue but a community issue. The ripple effects are felt beyond the person that is gambling or the venue in which they are playing. It is very different in local regional venues, I must admit, where attendants who work on the gaming floor or in gaming areas are also often locals who are likely to know many of their customers.

One of my sisters worked at one of the local clubs a few years ago, and to be honest she was often very surprised by who was regularly attending and gambling at the pokies and on other gambling platforms at the venue where she worked. It was interesting that she was aware that some of those gambling heavily on pokie machines were also known to be gambling in other areas, and I think that is the point.

We have heard many stories, and I have also shared one of my personal stories before in this place of a relative who has a gambling addiction. I wanted to say ‘had’ a gambling addiction, and that is our hope. The astonishing thing about this is that no-one knew – not his wife, friends, work colleagues, no-one – until it was too late. They lost their home, their life savings and everything. It was so awful when we found out. As a family, it is devastating to see someone who you love and care about and their family face the harsh reality of what has occurred. When someone close to you is so severely impacted, it does affect you, but you feel so overwhelmingly helpless. Often gambling addiction can be hidden and silent, but that impact eventually does catch up.

I recall a number of years ago now when my husband had money go missing from his business, and at the time there were a couple of full-time staff and a few casuals. Once you realise that something is going on and money is going missing, it is awful because you do not know who it is. The person who had the most access, with keys to the safe, and who was in a position to trust seemed to be the obvious person with the opportunity, and it was awful to start contemplating that scenario. He was loyal, great at his job, and guess what, it was not him. Surprisingly, it was a young casual staff member who was clever in accessing the safe keys and taking cash randomly. We set her up, and she took the bait. It was really disappointing, because this woman of 25 was lovely; everyone liked her and you would never have picked it. What we found out is that she had a broad gambling addiction. This cost our business thousands of dollars – we think it was around the $10,000 mark. But it was also the stigma on her and her family that was really quite devastating for everybody involved.

As we move forward, looking at this bill, it is the opportunity that we need to make change. There are a lot of broad things that need to happen, and I do not think that this bill goes far enough. I think we need to do more. There is so much more that we need to do, and we need to have more detail on this bill. It is fair to say that these reforms did come out of the blue – industries were taken by surprise. This bill will not stop people who want to gamble; they will just find another way.

I do support the reasoned amendment put by the Leader of the Nationals, and it does relate to some of the things that I have pointed out. Particularly, it delivers a process to protect border clubs from financial drift to interstate clubs, evaluates and reports on the feasibility of new technology such as facial recognition technology and automated risk monitoring systems, provides evidence that its reforms will reduce gambling harm and improves parliamentary oversight of the reforms.