The cost of a system to monitor the use of poker machines across Canberra's licensed venues is less than half of what was first thought, Gaming Minister Shane Rattenbury has revealed.
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Mr Rattenbury said he was constrained by cabinet confidentiality and could not provide further detail on the potential costs of gambling harm reduction policies being considered by the ACT government.
"The market sounding has revealed a significant reduction in the estimated cost of the implementation of a centralised monitoring system," Mr Rattenbury told the Legislative Assembly.
"The figures that have returned through that process is less than half the figure that was previously publicly estimated, so I think this is a very positive development."
The Canberra Times has previously reported the scheme, which would allow for gambling loss limits across venues, would cost about $70 million.
Mr Rattenbury, the leader of the Greens, said he would speak with Chief Minister Andrew Barr about releasing further information that was before cabinet, given "significant public demand for information".
"I'd be very happy to. But I've also had indiciations to me from the Chief Minister that he considers it not appropriate to release that sort of information while these matters are being considered by the cabinet," he said.
Labor and the Greens are split on the issue of a central monitoring system, with Labor touting a policy to introduce venue specific gambling accounts and reduce the number of poker machines in the territory to 1000 machines by 2045.
The cost of a central monitoring system would lock the ACT into a higher number of gaming machines to justify the expense, Labor believes.
The Greens also want to reduce the number of poker machines and say the spending on a central monitoring system would not prevent a cut to machine numbers.
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Laws to introduce a scheme to force poker machine operators to surrender their machines if a voluntary scheme does not have enough take up passed the first hurdle in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, but Labor's Marisa Paterson is expected to introduce amendments in a detail stage debate later this year.
The report from an inquiry into cashless gaming in the ACT, tabled on Wednesday, recommended the government "articulate a long-term vision for gambling harm reduction" and continue to cut poker machine numbers.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
