Canberra's latest gambling bill ties immediate player-protection changes to a two-decade contraction of the local poker-machine market. If enacted, anonymous cash play would disappear, access to cash inside gaming premises would narrow, and the number of authorised machines would decline toward a ceiling of 1,000 by 2045.
The proposed account system would make identification the gateway to play. A customer would register with the venue, fund a player card and choose the most they are prepared to lose before a machine becomes available. The venue would then interrupt continuous sessions with a 15-minute pause after each hour, the ACT Government explains.
Cash access is addressed separately from the card requirement. ATMs would be prohibited inside gaming venues and on connected property when they sit within 500 metres of the premises. Those provisions would start one year after the legislation is formally notified, while an already-notified regulation is due to end EFTPOS cash withdrawals at gaming venues on 2 December 2026.
The structural reduction would remove at least 500 machine authorisations in each four-year cycle until the 1,000-machine target is reached. ABC News noted that accounts would remain tied to individual venues rather than a single territory-wide monitoring network. Asia Gaming Brief described the bill as a package in which payment controls and the long-run reduction operate together.
