Surging pokies revenue proves NSW Labor has failed to reduce gambling harm as promised, advocates say

Annual gambling tax revenue will rise to $4.9bn by 2030, the NSW state budget forecast. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Annual gambling tax revenue will rise to $4.9bn by 2030, the NSW state budget forecast. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian Surging pokies revenue proves NSW Labor has failed to reduce gambling harm as promised, advocates say State budget suggests Minns government is addicted to pokies revenue, with tax take predicted to jump from $1.6bn to $2.2bn annually within four years Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Anti-gambling advocates say surging tax revenue from poker machines in New South Wales is a betrayal of the Minns government’s promise to reform the industry. Tuesday’s state budget forecasts the annual revenue from all gambling taxes will rise from $3.8bn in 2025-26 to $4.7bn by 2029-30. That includes an annual rise in revenue from poker machines in pubs and hotels of 7.5%, outstripping inflation, meaning the government expects to pocket $2.2bn from pokies in 2029-30 compared with $1.6bn this financial year. The NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, told reporters on Wednesday that Treasury had not modelled the effect of any gambling reform on future tax revenues. But he denied that meant there would be no further changes to curb gambling. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email “The process by which we construct modelling for a budget does reflect policy settings at the time,” Mookhey said. Speaking inside the budget lockup on Tuesday, the treasurer said while there was “legitimate” disagreement on the appropriate level of gambling, it was Treasury’s job to “call the numbers as we see them”. Compared to the current annual revenue, the state government will pocket more than $2.2bn extra in gambling taxes over the forward estimates, before adjusting for inflation. The chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Rev Tim Costello, said Tuesday’s figures showed “Labor has a gambling problem”. “This is a terrible fail by the Minns government and a breach of trust,” he said. Progress on gambling reform in the state has stalled after the premier, Chris Minns, promised before the 2023 election that he would reduce the number of poker machines and implement a cashless gaming trial, as he sought to match an anti-gambling push by former premier Dominic Perrottet. After a 2024 trial, Labor has not committed to implementing cashless gaming cards which were a harm reduction and anti-money laundering recommendation by the state’s crime commission. The government has not yet responded to 30 recommendations made by the Independent Panel for Gaming reform in November 2024, including a statewide “centralised account-based gaming system”. Analysis by the Wesley Mission shows gamblers are on track to lose more than $10bn to poker machines in 2026. The state government has continued to benefit from poker machine