Gambling reform package is a loss disguised as a win

August 25, 2026 — 5:18pm

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

There is a particular feature of poker machine play that raises the pulses of reform advocates and gamblers alike, known as “losses disguised as wins”. The lights flash and the bells ring and the machine celebrates the spin like a win, but the payout is less than the amount wagered.

Depending how far you wind back the time machine on this state’s slow descent into poker machine addiction, the Minns government’s long-awaited gambling reform package could be described as a loss disguised as a win. There is nothing terrible about the measures announced on Tuesday. It’s a grab-bag of things that can’t hurt, things that might work and things that are long overdue.

But it goes nowhere near addressing the social harms that have emerged as a result of NSW having the highest number of poker machines per person in the world.

Starting with that metric, for example, the package includes an increased forfeiture rate when........

© The Sydney Morning Herald