In a recent statement issued by the Independent Gambling Authority of South Australia, it has backed the concept of smartcards for checking and controlling the problem of obsessive gambling by supporting its implementation. However, it also voiced a warning to the concerned politicians that the industry could suffer due to the adverse effects of the technology to be used for smartcards. A joint select committee on gambling reform was told by Alan Moss, the presiding member of the Independent Gaming Authority, that while the organization continued to give its support to the implementation of smartcard technology as it had always done, their main concern was that it shouldn’t be introduced very rapidly.
He said that that there are no worries as far as the problems in regulating the project are concerned, however the concerns originate from the potential and unintentional damage that could be caused to the industry if the introduction of smartcards is carried out too rapidly. He continued by drawing a parallel between the anti-smoking legislation and the smartcards and recommended that the same implementation method be followed for smartcards as had been done for the anti-smoking campaign which was introduced over a period of five years.
Last year in September a commitment was made by the Prime Minister of the country, Julia Gillard, for refurbishing poker machines through the application of a “pre-commitment” technology in the gambling machines by the end of the year 2014. This new system would require every poker player to have a smartcard which would have to be used to gain access to gambling through the machines. The smartcards will identify the players through the network that connects all the poker machines and it would also keep track of various things like the amount spent by the gambler and the playing time.
