By Annette Shailer
The NSW government has approved the installation into pubs and clubs of an expected 800 electronic Keno gambling terminals.
NSW will be the first state to introduce Touch Keno following a three-month trial of 30 terminals at 15 NSW venues including Star City Casino.
The new Touch Keno terminals will allow players to feed cash directly into the machine, however payouts must still be collected from an operator.
Tabcorp, which co-owns the NSW Keno licence with ClubsNSW, is offering to pay the cost of installing the machines if venues sign up for two years.
The government has also introduced a $250 bet limit on the terminals which must be in ‘a restricted area that cannot be accessed by minors’ and must carry information about gambling counselling and self-exclusion services.
The terminals will remove the need for customers to wait for a bartender to finish serving drinks before placing a bet.
The machines are set to be rolled out in clubs from next month.