NSW Mandates Facial Recognition in Gaming Rooms by 2028

Kyle Kevin

iGaming Writer

Fact Checked

NSW will mandate facial recognition in every gaming room from 2028. The technology will feed a statewide exclusion register covering all 87,000 machines across 2,100 venues.

NSW will require facial recognition technology at every gaming room entrance from 2028. Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris announced the mandate on Tuesday as part of the state’s latest gambling reform package. The cameras will identify excluded patrons as they enter and alert venue staff. The system feeds a new statewide exclusion register that replaces the current fragmented arrangement. Under the existing setup, a person banned from one venue can simply “go down the road to a different venue,” Harris said. The new register covers all 2,100 pubs and clubs operating roughly 87,000 poker machines. Third-party exclusions will also be permitted. Family members, friends, venues and police can apply to have someone banned. The affected player retains appeal rights. The 2028 timeline applies to both the facial recognition mandate and the statewide register becoming enforceable policy. The NSW government will upgrade its Centralized Monitoring System over the next two years to support a transition to account-based play. Venues can opt in to account-based systems. Customers may still use cash. The announcement has drawn criticism from within Labor’s own ranks. Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne called the reforms “half-hearted.” Wesley Mission chief executive Stu Cameron warned NSW the system has “as many holes in it as a block of Swiss cheese.” Harris could not provide timelines for other measures, including the one-in-two forfeiture rate for traded machine entitlements, which Labor promised before the 2023 election but never enacted.

How the 2028 Facial Recognition Rollout Will Work

Every pub and club with poker machines in NSW will install facial recognition cameras at gaming room entrances by 2028. The technology will scan patrons as they enter and match their faces against the statewide exclusion register. If the system detects an excluded person, it triggers an alarm. A staff member must then verify the match and ask the patron to leave. Harris said the technology is “already operating in some venues.” The idea is to standardise what has been a patchwork of voluntary implementations. Liquor & Gaming NSW introduced a voluntary Code of Practice for facial recognition in March 2026. It covers privacy risk identification, hardware standards, secure data storage, signage requirements and staff training. The code was developed with input from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and Cyber Security NSW. The mandatory regime will build on that foundation. Harris stressed “really strict guidelines” governing data use. The cameras will also support NSW Police efforts to combat money laundering through gaming machines. That dual-use purpose — harm minimisation and law enforcement — has raised NSW concerns among privacy advocates. The technology can identify barred patrons. It can also flag suspicious transaction patterns. The government has not clarified how law enforcement access will be governed or what thresholds trigger police notification. The 2028 deadline gives venues roughly 18 months to install compliant systems. The government has not specified technical standards, approved vendor lists, or cost allocation. Clubs and hotels will likely bear the installation and maintenance costs. The AU$95.2 million reform package does not appear to include direct subsidies for the technology rollout.

The Statewide Exclusion Register vs. the Current System

The current self-exclusion system is voluntary and venue-specific. A person can request exclusion from individual clubs or hotels. Enforcement depends on venue staff recognising the excluded patron. Harris described the flaw bluntly. “The current system allows someone NSW excluded from one venue to simply go down the road to a different venue,” he said. The statewide register eliminates that loophole. A single exclusion covers all 2,100 venues with poker machines. The facial recognition system automates enforcement. Staff no longer need to memorise faces or check paper lists. The register will also capture third-party exclusions. That is a significant expansion. Currently, only the gambler themselves can initiate exclusion. Under the new system, family members, friends, venues and police can apply on someone’s behalf. Harris said this addresses a critical gap. “Often, people experiencing severe gambling harm do not necessarily recognise themselves that they’re experiencing that harm,” he stated. “What this will allow is a family to apply to have their loved one excluded.” The player retains appeal rights. The government NSW has not specified the appeal process, timeline or criteria for overturning a third-party exclusion. The proposed minimum exclusion period is 12 months, extendable to three years. A temporary 21-day ban can apply while an application is under review. The register represents a shift from individual responsibility to systemic intervention. It treats gambling harm as a public health issue NSW requiring coordinated response rather than a private matter between venue and patron.

Third-Party Exclusions and Appeal Rights

The third-party exclusion scheme is the most contentious element. It allows people other than the gambler to initiate a ban. Family members and friends can apply. Venues can apply. Police can apply. Harris said the system would include safeguards. “The player, of course, would have appeal rights,” he noted. “We would put in place a system to allow for that third-party exclusion to occur.” The details of that system remain undefined. Who adjudicates appeals? What evidence standard applies? How long does the appeal process take? The government has not answered these questions. The NSW Gambling Survey 2024 found 3.1% of adults experience moderate-risk gambling and 0.9% experience high-risk gambling. In raw numbers, that is roughly 322,000 people across the state. The third-party scheme aims to reach those who will not or cannot self-exclude. However, it also creates potential for abuse. Estranged family members could weaponise exclusions. Disgruntled partners could use the system punitively. The government has not outlined protections against malicious applications. The appeal mechanism is the primary safeguard. Its effectiveness depends on speed, fairness and accessibility. Harris said the reforms were developed “alongside industry, harm minimisation groups, stakeholders and privacy experts.” Whether that consultation adequately addressed third-party risks NSW is unclear. The scheme has no direct precedent in Australian gambling regulation. Other states have self-exclusion registers. None has granted third parties the power to ban someone from all venues statewide.

Privacy, Policing and the Clubs Lobby

The facial recognition mandate sits at the intersection of harm minimisation, privacy and law enforcement. Harris said the technology would adhere to “really strict guidelines” on data use. The March 2026 voluntary code already prohibits using facial recognition for marketing, surveillance or tracking. Data can only be used for exclusion purposes. The cameras will also support NSW Police efforts to prevent money laundering and other criminal activity through gaming machines. That dual-use purpose has drawn scrutiny. The Herald previously revealed that some technology vendors promote facial recognition as a tool to “balance commerce and compliance” by identifying potential repeat customers. The gap between vendor marketing and government policy is a live concern. Stu Cameron, chief executive of Wesley Mission, said clubs had been “pushing for this for ages.” He was concerned about whether venues could use data for marketing purposes. “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.” The rollout is a win for the clubs lobby, which has campaigned for facial recognition as an alternative to mandatory cashless or account-based gambling. Labor’s state conference in July 2026 called for more significant reforms, including a new tax on Sydney’s richest clubs and a “significant reduction” in poker machine numbers. Senior figures from Left and Right factions had pushed for a reduction of 25,000 to 45,000 machines. The announced package falls well short of those demands. AGBrief tracks regulatory developments in Australian gambling markets. Darcy Byrne, the Labor mayor who helped negotiate the conference motion, said the poker machine lobby’s silence tells the story. “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,” he said. Harris defended the approach. He argued that once facial recognition and the exclusion register are in place, “the actual number of machines matters less.” Players can set time and spend limits. Third parties can intervene. The technology, he said, makes machine quantity secondary. That argument has not convinced critics. Harris could not provide a timeline for the one-in-two forfeiture rate, which Labor promised before the 2023 election. “There’s a whole lot of legislation involved,” he said. “I can’t give you a date at this time.” The reforms also ban VIP programmes linked to gaming. Harris cited the Diamond Suite at Club Marconi in Bossley Park, which requires AU$500,000 in annual machine turnover for entry. The Herald reported last week that a 62-year-old pensioner living in public housing has played there until 4am, six or seven nights a week, for a decade. The ban on such programmes is immediate in policy terms but lacks a legislative timeline. With only seven sitting weeks before the March 2027 election, the government is racing to pass bills that would give substance to Tuesday’s announcements. Whether it can secure crossbench support in the upper house remains uncertain. The statewide register and facial recognition mandate are the clearest commitments. Everything else — forfeiture rates, VIP bans, advertising restrictions — floats in legislative limbo.

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