Sober Up Sydney!

Advocating for a healthier, more sustainable drinking culture and nightlife in Sydney & NSW

[Mark Speakman @MarkSpeakman]

Poker machine shame.

Today’s @smh:

“An influential Sydney mayor has launched an extraordinary attack on the Minns government over poker machines, accusing his own party’s MPs of being beholden to an intimidation campaign akin to the kind waged by America’s powerful gun lobby.

Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne … said the issue had been ‘swept under the rug’ by Labor ministers and backbenchers for too long and described the scale of losses in pubs and clubs as ‘obscene’.”

https://t.co/iJvnEwvYYa

[The Sydney Morning Herald @smh]

Newspaper ‘slapdown’ that backfired: Minister’s order legally flawed https://t.co/diJ82b2kMG

[Sober Up Sydney! @SoberUpSydney]

@marklevy2gb Hi Mark. Re pokies - billions of dollars laundered through the machines every year. This money funds criminal networks and potentially even terrorism. The least the NSW government could do is implement a cashless gaming card. How can we turn a blind eye to this?

[Stu Cameron @CameronStu]

NSW is on track to see more than $10 Billion lost to poker machines in 2026, losses climbing at more than twice the rate of inflation. And losses are concentrated in postcodes and communities that can least afford it. It’s time to Put Pokies in Their Place.

[Stu Cameron @CameronStu]

There's only three things certain in NSW - death, taxes and spiralling pokies losses. $2.37B lost in just 3 months, a 9.4% increase year on year - more than twice inflation rate. NSW punters lose$26.4m every day, $1.1m every hour. It's Groundhog Day on steroids. Real reform NOW!

[Crikey @crikey_news]

Opinion | While the NSW government refuses to regulate poker machines, hundreds of millions are being laundered through them by organised crime, write Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane. https://t.co/rx73eyMWrv

[Crikey @crikey_news]

Opinion | Why is Chris Minns whingeing about income taxes? Surely it couldn’t be a ploy to distract from the shocking revelations of the Bondi royal commission… https://t.co/rx73eyMWrv

[Financial Review @FinancialReview]

The politician who allowed pokies into NSW pubs says no one knew they would generate $5 billion in profits every year. “If we had known...we would have saddled them with markedly higher tax regimes.” https://t.co/NCFSnInuxa

[Mark Speakman @MarkSpeakman]

For 18 months the Minns Government has sat on the Independent Panel on Gaming Reform report.
Meantime misery and devastation from pokie addiction continues.
Even Georges River Labor councillors call for urgent action including mandatory cashless gaming.
https://t.co/CnUt6kdIx1

[The Coot in the Suit @2000and1]

Why won’t @ChrisMinnsMP act on the scourge of pokies?

Money laundering and societal damage writ large.

Cut the number of machines today.

https://t.co/KG2TD5Fb3w

[Duncan McNab @DuncanMcNab]

Nice work from the @SMH on the world of money laundering using many people and the pokies (the former one armed bandit that is a boon to organised crime).
https://t.co/VQpZJsvtuL

[Wesley Mission @wesleymission]

When the numbers are this stark, they speak for themselves.

$9.3b in 2025. $179 m a week. $1.1 m an hour.

Today’s @smh based on our analysis of new data lays bare the scale of pokies losses crushing communities. Reform can’t keep being delayed. https://t.co/gzQsmiwyhU

[Mark Speakman @MarkSpeakman]

“Punters lost a record $9.3 billion on NSW poker machines last year – a surge of 8 per cent on the previous 12 months” - a litany of ruined lives and a shocking indictment of the NSW Government’s failure to act.
https://t.co/zKYllpDk1q
@smh @wesleymission

[Ellen Sandell @ellensandell]

Ever wonder how political influence works?

Gift parcels from the AHA (ie: pokies lobby) lining the halls outside Labor MPs’ offices today. They weren’t happy to see us 😂

[Sober Up Sydney! @SoberUpSydney]

Sign the petition for pokies reform! 'Why I risked prison to add a losing Sound to poker machines' https://t.co/srIiOZ74b0

[Sober Up Sydney! @SoberUpSydney]

#LossLimitsNotLostLives: Enforce loss limits on all Australian poker machines - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/1rmw6jOqLi via @ChangeAUS

[Wesley Mission @wesleymission]

At a time when poker machines are taking record amounts of money from families and communities - more than $1million an hour - it should be easier, not harder, for venues to go poker machine-free. https://t.co/Qb9VHAWKUY

[Alliance for Gambling Reform @ReformGambling]

Record-Breaking Pokies Losses in NSW: $2.45 Billion in Just 3 Months https://t.co/ASyxerqiKR

[💧Michael West @MichaelWestBiz]

"Crackdown" ... hardly. Another year rolls by, $10B in pokies losses (clubs, pubs, govt) net profits.

NY wish - politicians be honest and just say the money is too big
#auspol #pokies

https://t.co/R0BCq7uROS

[Mark Speakman @MarkSpeakman]

On issues like workers compensation and poker machines, I'll always put the public interest first, not the private interests of lobbyists and their clients.