NSW Considers ATMs to Go from Venues

Automatic teller machines could be removed from all NSW pubs, clubs and casinos, with the move that aims to combat problem gambling currently under consideration.

The Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing NSW is now calling for tenders to undertake research into the related effects of the distances between ATMs and gaming areas in venues.

The research will also look into other gambling deterrents that could include ATM withdrawal limits and also making poker machines unable to accept $50 or $100 notes.  

The move echoes the Victorian Government’s announcement last year to ban all ATMs from gaming venues from 2012 when the state’s current licence conditions end.

The hotel industry has long said such a move would hinder food and beverage business in many hotels because other ATMs are not always nearby.

But it has gained weight with the NSW Government, with a Sydney father calling for the removal of ATMs from venues in a submission to the Productivity Commission's inquiry into gambling.

In 2004, Keith Richardson’s late son had exhausted his own funds from an ATM in a Hornsby pub after drinking and gambling heavily, with no money left for a taxi home. 

He reportedly tried to get the train home but fell on the tracks and died after being hit by a train.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the fact that our son could beggar himself by walking a few metres from poker machine to ATM under one roof was a significant contributor to his death," Richardson wrote in his submission.

[Mon 25/05/2009 02:53:37]