Canberra’s clubs sector is prepared to work as an industry with the ACT Government on reviewing the proposed $5 bet and $100 credit limits for poker machines and centralised monitoring system, ClubsACT CEO Craig Shannon said, but has some reservations.

“We obviously welcome anything that substantially impacts on harm minimisation outcomes in a positive way,” Mr Shannon said.

“We’re not overly confident this will have any significant impact, generally speaking, in that regard because the ACT is a heavily regulated jurisdiction already. Our industry is a not-for-profit industry; gambling harm is often worse exampled in for-profit-based environments.”

• Read more: ACT Government wants to limit poker machine bets

ClubsACT’s main concerns, Mr Shannon said, were the costs to the sector for implementing the model and the timeframe for implementation.

“As long as we can get those two matters addressed through this process, that will make it a lot easier for us to embrace the outcomes, whatever they may be.”

Shane Rattenbury, ACT Minister for Gaming, proposes that the system would be paid for over time through gaming machine revenue – totalling $166.9 million in 2019, the last pre-COVID year – to minimise upfront costs.

“At the end of the day, government already procures revenue from the poker machines in a range of fronts from our sector,” Mr Shannon said. “We would suggest that those funds that are already being extracted by government or arms of government out from poker machines would be the starting point for that.

“Any further impact on the revenues from poker machines to clubs is going to affect clubs’ operations more broadly. It’s not a tap you can just keep turning on and extracting money out of from a government point of view, because it has a real impact on the capacity of our clubs to provide a range of supports to the broader community.”

A very quick implementation would exacerbate cost issues, Mr Shannon said. ClubsACT want a reasonable transition period, particularly if the industry has to bear costs.

Mr Rattenbury intends the government to go to tender next year, with a view to developing and deploying the system in 2024.

“The industry is still trying to recover from the periods suffering lockdowns and otherwise through the COVID period,” Mr Shannon said. “We’ve had three or so years now of impacted operations in the industry. It’s a not-for-profit industry, so there aren’t huge reserves of funds sitting around.

“We’d be very concerned about anything that was going to put a further cost impost on the capacity of clubs to operate.”

But he said ClubsACT was happy to explore options with the government.

“If we can come up with a low financial impact model that can be implemented in a reasonable timeframe, then that will be of some comfort to us.

“At this stage, we’re happy to work through a process of consultation with the government, and hopefully, that will be a meaningful and thorough exercise.”

According to Liberals MLA Mark Parton, “the biggest detail that’s missing from the Minister’s announcement and discussion paper is who’s going to pay for it”.

“As clubs battle with major staffing issues in the slow Covid recovery, it would be crushing to impose more massive costs on the sector,” Mr Parton said.

“Many of the costing figures included in the discussion paper are fanciful and we’ll be expecting to get more detail from the government on exactly where the money is coming from.

“At this stage, the announcement and discussion paper throw up many more questions than answers. We’ll continue to consult with the industry and the government before arriving at a final position on these matters.”

If you or a loved one are experiencing gambling harm, contact:

• Gamblers Helpline – 1800 858 858
• gamblershelp.com.au