Updated August 25, 2026 — 5:32pm,first published August 25, 2026 — 9:56amA powerful Sydney Labor mayor has criticised the Minns government’s gambling reforms as a “half-hearted” attempt to deal with the poker machine addiction, and vowed to keep up the pressure on his own party before the 2027 election.Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne’s comments came after Gaming Minister David Harris said the rollout of mandatory facial-recognition technology in pubs and clubs and a statewide gambling self-exclusion register means cutting the number of poker machines in the state would “make no difference at all”.Nearly two years after an independent panel was convened to oversee the trial of cashless poker machines, the government has also ignored calls to introduce obligatory account-based gaming, instead saying it would begin exploring a system of opt-in “account-based” gambling.Punters in NSW spent $9.3 billion on poker machines in 2025.Jason SouthThe government on Tuesday announced the latest tranche of its gambling reforms, including a statewide exclusion register that would allow families, friends, police or venues to initiate bans for problem gamblers in hotels and clubs.The announcement is unlikely to assuage critics of the government’s response to poker machines. Last month Premier Chris Minns faced an internal revolt at Labor’s state conference, with a cross-factional deal foisting more significant reforms on the government.This included the absence of key elements of a deal negotiated by senior Labor figures at the party’s state conference in July.A motion adopted unanimously by Labor members called for a new tax on Sydney’s richest clubs, which are responsible for the vast bulk of the $10 billion in poker machine losses recorded in NSW each year.The motion also called for a “significant reduction” in the total number of pokies, a compromise agreed to with the government after senior figures from the Left and Right factions had pushed for a reduction of between 25,000 and 45,000 machines.Byrne, a senior figure in Labor’s Left faction who was integral to the negotiation of the gambling reform deal, criticised the “half-hearted approach to addressing poker machine harm”, saying pressure for “real reform” would intensify ahead of the 2027 NSW election.“Labor members voted for a ‘significant reduction’ in poker machines, but based on current trends, this plan would lead to just a few hundred of NSW’s 87,000 machines being decommissioned each year,” he said in a statement.‘The fact that the poker machine lobby has not mounted a major campaign against these changes tells you everything you need to know.’Darcy Byrne, Inner West mayor“The fact that the poker machine lobby has not mounted a major campaign against these changes tells you everything you need to know about how limited they are.”While Harris said he was discussing taxation changes with Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, he appeared to walk away from using government policy to materially reduce the 87,000 pokies operating across about 2100 venues in NSW.“That becomes less important once the technology is in play,” Harris said.“The most important thing is that when a person is sitting at a machine anywhere in the state, they can set how long they can play. They can set how much they can spend. Once those things are in place, the actual number of machines matters less.The rollout of mandatory facial-recognition technology is a major win for the clubs lobby, which has long campaigned for its use, instead of mandatory account-based or cashless gambling.Stu Cameron, the chief executive of Wesley Mission, said clubs had been “pushing for this for ages”. He was concerned about how the rules would govern its use, including whether clubs could use data from the technology for things such as marketing. The Herald has previously revealed some companies that sell the technology to clubs promote it as a tool to “balance commerce and compliance” by identifying potential repeat customers.“The devil is in the detail,” Cameron said. “You’re still relying on a system that will require some 19-year-old responsible-gambling officer to go up to someone and say, ‘Please, sir or madam, can you stop gambling?’ A lot of the time they’re going to tell them to get stuffed. There’s as many holes in it as a block of Swiss cheese.”While the self-exclusion register and facial-recognition technology is expected to be in place by 2028, Harris could not provide timelines for some of the announcements.Tuesday’s package included a reannouncement of a plan to increase gaming machine entitlement forfeitures – meaning the number of machines that must be given up every time they are transferred between venues – from one in three to one in two.The government first announced that policy before the 2023 election but never enacted it. Harris could not give a timeline for when it would occur.“There’s a whole lot of legislation involved in bringing this forward. We’re working through all those processes now. I can’t give you a date at this time,” he said.The reforms also included a ban on VIP programs linked to gaming, which Harris said would include schemes such as the Diamond Suite at Club Marconi in Bossley Park.The high rollers’ room requires patrons to turn over at least $500,000 a year on poker machines to qualify for entry.The Herald reported last week that a 62-year-old pensioner who lives in a home owned by the Department of Housing has played the pokies until 4am, six or seven nights a week, there since it opened a decade ago.Mark Morey, the secretary of Unions NSW who has helped lead the push for gambling reforms and is entering parliament at the next election, said the reforms “represent real and solid progress to reduce harm to problem gamblers”.A statewide exclusion register will replace a fragmented system policed by individual venues and staff.More than 3 per cent of the adult population experience moderate-risk gambling, while nearly 1 per cent experience high-risk gambling, according to the NSW Gambling Survey 2024. In 2023-24, poker machines in NSW generated about $8.4 billion in profit for clubs and hotels.NSW government revenue generated from pokies is forecast to grow by an average of 7.5 per cent over the next four years, rising from $1.63 billion to $2.2 billion by 2029-30.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.From our partners