The Tasmanian Hospitality Association has expressed doubts that a pre-commitment system to put limits on electronic gaming machine (EGM) losses will be able to ever be done in Tasmania.
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The state government in 2022 announced that it would follow a Tasmanian Liquor and Licencing Commission recommendation to bring in a mandatory pre-commitment card for EGM use, with daily loss limits of $500, monthly loss limits of $1000, and annual loss limits of $5000.
Finance Minister Nic Street this week confirmed that the gaming system developer MaxGaming would not be able to meet the December deadline for the new gaming card, and would need until at least December 2025 to have it in place.
The 2022 announcement provoked a furious reaction from the THA which claimed that it had been blindsided.
It said the pre-commitment system would be cumbersome to administer
THA chief executive Steve Old said the government had failed to listen to the experts, which meant it did not have a realistic chance of having the pre-commitment system in place by its own deadline.
"From the moment Minister Michael Ferguson announced his ridiculous timeline to have a mandatory card-based system with pre-commitment measures implemented by December this year, the Tasmanian Hospitality Association has said it couldn't be done," he said.
"This proposed system has not been developed anywhere in the world, and we have been trying to explain that to Mr Ferguson for a year and a half."
A paper by the Australian Gambling Research Centre on pre-commitment gaming systems stated EGM users often underestimated their gambling expenditure by substantial amounts, and such a system prevented unintended and excessive use.
It said a partial or incomplete system that did not require all gamblers to use the system might be ineffective.
"Experiences internationally and in Australia have demonstrated that the uptake of limit setting in partial pre-commitment systems is low," it said.
Some venues across Australia started to introduce pre-commitment systems in 2003.
The Productivity Commission in 2010 recommended the staged adoption of full pre-commitment systems across Australian EGMs.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
