Seventy years after NSW legalised poker machines, losses are still rising, climbing this year almost twice the rate of inflation. Wesley Mission says it is time to act on gambling harm, just as governments acted on seat belts, tobacco advertising and lead in petrol.
On 19 September 1956, poker machines were legalised in NSW clubs. Today, Wesley Mission CEO, Rev Stu Cameron, says governments have a long history of acting when evidence shows intervention can protect people and prevent harm.
“We did not make seat belts voluntary and hope people would use them. When the evidence clearly showed they saved lives, governments acted, reducing the carnage on our roads markedly. Preventing gambling harm should be no different.”
In the first six months of 2026, people in NSW lost $4.75 billion to poker machines, $311 million more than during the same period last year.
“We have the data, the research and, sadly, now decades of experience. What we lack is the political will to act.”
A new Wesley Mission survey shows public trust in the Government on gambling reform has collapsed.
The NSW Community Attitudes to Poker Machines and Gambling Reform survey, conducted by The Insight Centre*, found 84% of NSW adults do not trust the NSW Government to stand up to the gambling industry, while half believe the gambling lobby has too much influence on NSW politics.
“For decades the NSW pokies industry has enjoyed a domineering voice in our state. This survey says the community wants its voice heard louder and clearer too,” says Cameron.
Wesley Mission is calling for a package of reforms including a mandatory midnight-to-10am shutdown of poker machines and mandatory account-based gambling with built-in harm minimisation measures.
Rev Cameron says a midnight shutdown is a simple reform that would reduce access to poker machines during the highest-risk hours without requiring pubs and clubs to close.
“You can still have a beer. You can still have a meal. You can still see a band. Sydney can still enjoy the thriving nighttime economy we deserve. We aren’t asking pubs and clubs to close. Just pull the plug on pokies after midnight.”
The pokies anniversary is an opportunity for NSW to decide what role poker machines should play in the decades ahead, says Cameron.
“Reform is never convenient. Industries resist it. Governments worry about revenue, and a cashed-up, all-powerful pubs and clubs lobby protecting their super profits. Reviews are commissioned and more evidence is requested, when no more is needed. All of that buys time, kicking the can down the road while millions of NSW residents continue to suffer the terrible impacts of preventable gambling harm.
“We cannot change the decision made in 1956. We can decide what happens next. Some things from 1956 belong in history. It is time to put pokies in their place.”
