Media Release: Rockliff Government Abandons Pokies Harm Minimisation
Rockliff Government Abandons Pokies Harm Minimisation
23 January 2026
Independent Member for Nelson Meg Webb MLC today described poker machine measures announced today by the Rockliff government as making a mockery of harm minimisation – ranging from minimal effectiveness to actively promoting greater harm.
“First Premier Rockliff betrayed Tasmanians by abandoning the nation-leading pokies card and now he has abandoned all genuine commitment to minimising poker machine harm in the community”, Ms Webb said.
“Reducing gaming room opening hours to 17 hours per day instead of 20 hours will have minimal impact, applying only to a small handful of venues open under currently allowed hours.
“Facial recognition technology to enforce self-exclusion is an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff – relevant only to those who are at the extremity of a pokies addiction, whose lives have already been wrecked.
“Most disturbing and shameless are the announcements presented as harm minimisation which will in fact drive higher levels of addiction and greater harm.
“Permitting venues to have an ATM onsite goes against all expert evidence which points to the accessibility of cash as a significant factor in pushing higher losses and greater harm – made clear in the 2010 Productivity Commission Gambling Inquiry report.
“Moving to an out-dated ‘Ticket In Ticket Out’ system is a form of cashless play, which all gambling harm research shows will cause greater losses and harm unless accompanied by other effective measures such as mandatory pre-commitment.
“If we face the cost of retrofitting our Tasmanian pokies industry to a new technology, why not go with the gold-standard pokies card with set loss limits.”
Ms Webb said this the opposite of the Premier’s previous claim of working towards a national approach.
“Instead, this looks to be creating a bespoke system for Tasmania which will be costly and create a higher risk of harm.
“Make no mistake, the Rockliff Government is choosing to put vulnerable Tasmanians in harm’s way with their sycophantic pandering to the pokies lobby.”
Ms Webb said it was even more extraordinary to see these woeful measures announced on the same day the Deloitte report on the impact of the previously intended gold-standard pokies card was made public by the government.
“The long-awaited Deloitte report categorically supports the significant value to Tasmania of the government’s previously planned nation-leading pokies card.
“The numbers are in – the Deloitte report confirms that a pokies card with set loss limits will reduce pokies expenditure and harm, particularly for those at moderate to high risk of gambling harm, and it would lift Tasmania’s Gross State Product and net employment.
“It is nothing short of gross negligence the Rockliff Government has abandoned the pokies card, a gold-standard harm reduction measure which would provide significant economic benefit to our State and instead seeks to introduce measures proven to actively increase harm to the Tasmanian community.”
Key Excerpts from the Deloitte Access Economics report: Social and Economic Impact of Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) Reform use in Tasmania, released on the Deptartment of State Growth’s website on 23 January 2026:
The reforms are estimated to reduce EGM player gambling expenditure by 23% – 46% under the modelled scenarios. The change captures both the decrease in EGM expenditure and any increase in non-EGM gambling expenditure. The results demonstrate that the harm minimisation features of card-based gambling have the largest impact on total gambling expenditure, particularly for those at moderate to high risk of gambling harm.
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Net economic impact
The reforms are projected to cause a decline in activity and employment at venues, but this is more than offset by increases in activity and employment in other sectors. This trend is consistent across regions, but the magnitude is larger in regions with more EGMs.
While there may be a reduction in revenue for venues operating EGMs, the broader economic benefits include improved labour productivity due to reduced gambling-related absenteeism, enhanced household disposable income and reduced costs to government associated with delivery of healthcare, mental health support, homelessness programs, policing, courts, and corrections.
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The proposed reforms are expected to lift Tasmania’s GSP and net employment, relative to the State’s economic baseline. This finding holds across each of the three scenarios.
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The social outcomes of the reform are anticipated to be largely positive; an effectual consequence of the reform considering gambling related harm is not confined to problem gamblers. Firstly, the study shows that a meaningful reduction in gambling-related harm is expected, particularly among problem gamblers, moderate risk gamblers, and their communities. This reduction is then expected to lead to decreased demand for public health and social support services, decreased costs for justice and policing, improved productivity, and overall improvements in community wellbeing
The full Deloitte Access Economics report: Social and Economic Impact of Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) Reform use in Tasmania December 2025, (and released on 23 January 2026) can be viewed below or as a pdf here
