Arabic version: هيئة المقامرة في نيو ساوث ويلز سعت إلى نقل الإشراف على «كلوب غرانتس»
According to ABC News, documents released through a parliamentary process show the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) wanted to relinquish oversight of NSW’s ClubGrants poker machine tax scheme. The authority said the program had “constraints and issues” and raised compliance concerns in a submission to a recent review.
Under ClubGrants, NSW clubs operating poker machines receive tax discounts when they donate a fraction of their annual profits to community organisations. Clubs operating 65,000 poker machines in the state make $5 billion in annual profits, the report said. The scheme has faced criticism over reports that grants have been awarded to clubs’ own groups, facilities and projects.
ILGA chairperson Caroline Lamb said the authority faced a yearly burden in conducting preliminary checks on applications from more than 500 clubs in two weeks or less. She said this workload “practically limits the authority’s ability to most effectively monitor the compliance with the Scheme”, adding that the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue was best placed to administer a tax rebate program.
Liquor and Gaming NSW also identified concerns, including that clubs and community groups do not need to verify how grant money is spent and that clubs can disregard local committee recommendations. The ClubGrants 2025 contribution report recorded $127 million in grants, with $53.3 million directed to sporting programs and facilities—more than the combined funding for several areas including health, disability inclusion, education, domestic violence, mental health, emergency services and homelessness.
The NSW government ordered its first formal ClubGrants review in more than a decade after taking office in 2023. Although it received the final report in January 2025, its findings have not been released. Gaming Minister David Harris’s office said the findings were still under consideration and that guidelines had been updated. Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said the scheme let clubs pay less tax while building community goodwill, while Clubs NSW did not respond to requests for comment.
