THE public is invited to have its say on two new schemes aimed at addressing gambling harm and money laundering while supporting a thriving hospitality industry.

The community can give feedback on consultation papers for a proposed third-party exclusion scheme and proposed mandatory facial recognition technology to support a statewide exclusion register for NSW hotels and clubs with gaming machines.

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“Facial recognition technology will support gambling harm-minimisation by removing the guesswork of staff identifying excluded patrons, often in crowded venues,” the State Government said in a statement.

“There would still need to be human interaction to verify the match made by the system.

“Currently, the list of excluded patrons and images that venue staff need to memorise can be difficult to manage.

“The Government is building strict parameters into the reforms to protect people’s privacy to ensure hotels and clubs can only use facial recognition for the purpose of identifying excluded patrons.

“Venues will be prohibited from using the technology for customer tracking, surveillance and marketing purposes.”

The Government says the third-party exclusion scheme would allow family, friends and venues to apply to ban someone experiencing significant gambling harm.

Research estimates that more than a million Australians experienced harm in the past year because of another person’s gambling.

It is proposed the minimum period for an exclusion order would be 12 months, with a maximum period of two or three years, with a temporary exclusion of 21 days while an application is considered.

The Government has also developed a draft facial recognition Code of Practice that gives pubs and clubs already operating the technology guidelines to support identification of self-excluded patrons.

The code has been developed over several rounds of consultation with government, industry and community stakeholders, including cyber security and privacy experts.

Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris included the public to provide feedback.

“Third-party exclusions are designed to help those experiencing gambling harm and their loved ones when other avenues to seek help may have failed,” he said.

“It recognises the physical, psychological, emotional and financial flow-on effects of gambling on a person’s family and friends.

“Facial recognition will also be an important harm-minimisation tool by providing another way to identify excluded patrons in crowded venue environments, which can often be challenging for venue staff.

“I encourage everyone to have their say on these important harm-minimisation measures.”

The Third-Party Exclusion Consultation Paper is available here: https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/third-party-exclusion-pubs-and-clubs and Facial Recognition Technology in Pubs and Clubs Consultation Paper is available here: https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/facial-recognition-technology.

The consultation period will close on 14 March 2025.