Michael Ferguson,Minister for Finance
The Tasmanian Liberal Government took the Future of Gaming in Tasmania policy to the public, consulted widely and now we have passed the legislation through Parliament tonight.
The Future Gaming Market policy ends the Federal Group monopoly and means we have more money for essential services such as health and education, certainty and security for jobs in pubs and clubs, more support for problem gamblers and less for the Federal Group.
Once again, our State is looking to be nation-leading in the area of gambling harm minimisation with strengthened measures to further reduce problem gambling.
I will be directing the Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission to investigate the options, costs, benefits and implementation of further harm minimisation measures, such as:
- Facial recognition technology to support the current player exclusion scheme;
- A smart card-based player system; and
- Potential options for a user pre-commitment scheme, allowing players to set limits on losses in advance.
Further, the Government amended the bill that has now passed the House to legislate that this work be undertaken and implemented by the commission as soon as practicable, which further demonstrates the Government’s commitment to harm minimisation.
This Government is providing strong leadership when it comes to gaming reform and we look forward to it passing in the Legislative Council.
