Canberra Pokies Could Require ID-Verified Accounts and Loss Limits Under New Bill

Under the cashless pokies with loss limits bill, every poker machine player would need an identity-verified account linked to a player card.

Money would be loaded onto the account rather than inserted directly into a machine, and the player would need to choose a maximum loss limit before gambling.

The account would also keep a record of spending and losses within the venue, giving players a clearer record of what happened during a session. Self-exclusion would move into the same system.

At the moment, venue staff can be required to recognise excluded customers from photographs and stop them from gambling. Under account-based play, an excluded customer’s account will instead be blocked from accessing poker machines.

Paterson has said this could allow someone who has excluded themselves from gambling to continue visiting a club for a meal, community event or other activity without being able to use the gaming room.

One part of the system, however, still needs a closer look as the bill moves through Parliament. The government describes the accounts as tracking play within a venue, but it has not yet clearly explained how the limits would work if players use more than one club to play.

Players would also have to stop for 15 minutes after every hour of continuous poker machine gambling. That rule would be enforced automatically through the account system with no human involvement.

Cash access inside gaming venues would also change. The bill aims to remove ATMs from venues that operate poker machines, while separate regulations would prevent EFTPOS cash withdrawals at those venues.

Paterson told Region Canberra that cash withdrawal facilities have appeared repeatedly in regulatory issues recorded in the ACT, including cases where people were able to access more money while gambling.

The government is also tightening poker machine operating hours, although those changes sit outside the bill introduced on 20 October.

From 1 July 2027, gaming machines will have to shut down during the following hours:

• Monday to Thursday: 2 AM to 10 AM
• Friday: 2 AM to 9 AM
• Saturday: 4 AM to 9 AM
• Sunday: 4 AM to 10 AM

The Australian Capital Territory currently has fewer than 3,500 gaming machine authorisations. The bill would put the government’s target of no more than 1,000 authorisations by 2045 into legislation.

At least 500 authorisations would need to be surrendered every four years until that target is reached.

An authorisation is the legal right to operate a poker machine, so the reduction is being managed through the number of machines clubs are permitted to run rather than through a single large removal on one date.

The government has linked the policy to findings from the 2024 ACT Gambling Survey. Poker machines accounted for around one-third of the total burden of gambling harm measured in the Territory, more than any other gambling product.

Paterson said on 20 October that around 58,000 Canberrans experience some level of gambling harm.

Clubs will have years to adjust to fewer machines. The government is setting up a transition group with industry and community representatives as clubs reduce their reliance on gaming revenue.

The bill’s introduction does not mean cashless pokies begin immediately.

Clubs would be given an implementation period after the legislation passes so they can install the required technology, create player-account systems and issue cards. The ATM ban would also have its own transition period.

Some other parts of the reform package are already further along. The new poker machine shutdown hours are scheduled to begin in July 2027, while changes to gambling self-exclusion are being progressed separately.

If the account-based system passes, anyone sitting down at a Canberra poker machine would first need a verified account, a player card and a loss limit.