June 14, 2013, 10 p.m.
THE lifting of a cap on casino-style gaming machines will not make "an iota of difference" in the Hunter despite dozens of its clubs now being eligible to install the machines, Clubs NSW says.
Clubs NSW Hunter representative Jon Chin said he was confident the "floodgates won't open" as the games, such as electronic blackjack and roulette, would appeal most to people of Asian backgrounds and "we do not have the players who are interested in playing those machines".
The games have bet limits of $100, compared to $10 limits for poker machines.
Recent NSW Parliament changes removed a cap on the machines for clubs with up to 33 poker machine rights.
They can now have up to five such machines. Each seat or terminal at multi-gaming machines is counted as one.
Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing data shows 27 clubs in the Newcastle local government area will be able to install the machines for the first time. In Lake Macquarie, 19 clubs will be eligible and eight in Cessnock. At present, only Cardiff Panthers, Cardiff RSL Club, Western Suburbs Leagues Club and Nelson Bay RSL Memorial Club have such machines installed.
But Mr Chin said it was unlikely any Hunter clubs would want to install many of the machines as they were expensive and unpopular.
"[The changes] might be very good for those clubs in the western side of Sydney but in Newcastle, it wouldn't have an iota of difference," he said.
Greens Hunter spokesman John Kaye dismissed Mr Chin's arguments.
"There is no evidence of racially based preferences for multi-terminal machines," Dr Kaye said.
"Clubs NSW is yet again trying to hide the awful truth that these casino-style games create yet more problem gambling, in all communities."
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