NSW Premier Chris Minns says he is “sorry” that poker machines are so common in pubs and clubs across the state. Speaking about the ongoing debate over the pokies, Minns argues that reducing the number of machines would create significant financial consequences for NSW. He says it would be “prohibitively expensive” to pay compensation if the number of poker machines were slashed, framing the compensation cost as a key barrier to any major reduction.
The reports describe Minns’s position as balancing community concerns about the impact of gambling with the legal and fiscal implications of changing the pokies supply. While he acknowledges the widespread presence of poker machines, his comments focus on the practical challenge of compensation liabilities that could arise from policy changes affecting venue entitlements.
Across the outlets, the story centers on Minns’s response to the pokies debate and his explanation for why a reduction in poker machine numbers may not be straightforward for the NSW government.
