A senior New South Wales Liberal minister has spoken for the first time about how a powerful Australian gambling lobby group forced him out of the portfolio and has called for an investigation into its influence over government.
In an interview with Four Corners, Victor Dominello accused the club industry lobby group, ClubsNSW, of being "the equivalent of the gun lobby in the United States".
"There's just no mistake about that. Our blind spot is poker machines and they're extraordinarily powerful," he said.
Asked if he believed there should be an inquiry into the influence of the lobby group over governments, Mr Dominello, who is retiring from politics, said he did, and called on whoever took power after this month's NSW election to act.
"[There should be] an inquiry or some other examination to make sure that MPs are not cowed into moving a certain way because of this powerful industry," he said.
"For the sake of our democracy, I really believe that this is an issue that the next term of government should address."
Mr Dominello spoke to Four Corners as part of an investigation into the power and influence of ClubsNSW, the not-for-profit lobby group for more than 1,000 registered clubs across the state, which collectively own and operate more than 64,000 poker machines.
The industry, which has defeated previous attempts at gambling reform, is facing its greatest test yet at the NSW election.
The introduction of mandatory cashless gambling for poker machines is a central election issue.
Poker machine reform activists believe the outcome could determine the fate of gambling reform nationally and even internationally.
"If New South Wales can address the issue of poker machine reform, this is not just important for us, it's not just important for Queensland and Victoria, it's actually important for the world because if New South Wales can beat pokies, anyone can," Wesley Mission's Jim Wackett said.
'Do your f***en job', minister told
Mr Dominello was the NSW minister with responsibility for gambling policy when he floated the introduction of a mandatory cashless gambling card for all poker machines in the state in 2020.
The reform, which would force all poker machine users to nominate how much they were prepared to lose, was aimed at addressing problem gambling.
It was strongly opposed by ClubsNSW, which has claimed the reform would cost 9,000 jobs and devastate clubs by slashing their revenue by up to 30 per cent.
"The view taken by ClubsNSW was just so strident against it, and there was no give," Mr Dominello said.
"It was just, 'No, we don't want it. We will not have it. We will fight you to the death on it.'"
After he proposed the idea, Mr Dominello said he and his colleagues in government and across the parliament were immediately targeted by ClubsNSW representatives.
"The lobbying was very intense," he said. "It was the most intense I've ever seen in 12 years as a minister."
The clubs' message found a receptive audience in Mr Dominello's Coalition colleagues, the Nationals, who feared the reforms would damage clubs in their rural heartlands.
When Mr Dominello declined to attend an awards dinner hosted by ClubsNSW, a furious Nationals leader John Barilaro texted him.
"You are seriously a deadset dick …" the message read.
"What about just looking after your stakeholders. Like ClubsNSW …
"Do your f***en job."
'We will do to you what we did to Julia Gillard'
Mr Dominello said the lobby group had a "sense of hubris" about its influence in New South Wales and because of the success it had in killing off poker machine reforms proposed by then-prime minister Julia Gillard a decade ago.
Ms Gillard eventually ditched the plan after a campaign coordinated by ClubsNSW in its national guise, Clubs Australia.
"They saw the power that they had over Julia Gillard," Mr Dominello said. "And they basically said to me, in no uncertain terms, 'We will do to you what we did to Julia Gillard.'"
"I realised as soon as I essentially said that we are going to go down this public-interest path, that my days were going to be numbered, because the relationship between myself and [ClubsNSW] was irretrievable from that point. It seriously soured.
"They were absolutely going around, undermining me, saying, 'We don't trust this minister. We don't have faith in this minister. Essentially, we want a new minister. We can't work with this minister.'"
When Premier Dominic Perrottet reshuffled his cabinet in December 2021, he stripped Mr Dominello of the gaming portfolio. It was handed to the Nationals.
In a statement, Mr Perrottet said ClubsNSW's lobbying had no influence on his decision to remove Mr Dominello from the portfolio.
'Highly unusual' agreements erode faith in democracy, expert says
There are few better examples of the hold ClubsNSW has had over governments than the succession of "agreements" it has struck before elections over the past decade.
The documents – formally known as Memoranda of Understanding — bind incoming Coalition governments to detailed pledges about the regulatory environment that clubs will operate in over the ensuing four years, including no new increases to poker machine tax rates.
These agreements were signed by then-opposition leader Barry O'Farrell in 2010, his successor as premier, Mike Baird, in 2014, and premier Gladys Berejiklian in 2018.
Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore described the documents as "highly unusual".
"The fact that they can almost dictate policy and regulation is very concerning from a democracy perspective, but also wider integrity perspective," he said.
"I think it erodes people's faith in democracy and actually stops governments implementing policies that might harm the pokies industry in New South Wales."
ClubsNSW said in a statement: "The MOUs signed between ClubsNSW and the New South Wales Coalition provided public transparency prior to elections, as well as regulatory certainty for an industry that employs more than 53,000 people and provides services for millions of members and the communities in which they operate.
"It is the same approach to government engagement that is taken by hundreds of peak bodies and businesses on a daily basis."
Four Corners has also unearthed new evidence of the influence of the poker machine lobby inside the Coalition government.
Two sources have confirmed that, during a cabinet meeting last year, Nationals leader Paul Toole delivered his colleagues a message, using words to the effect of: "I've seen the list of MPs that Clubs is going to target in its campaign at the election. And trust me, you don't want to be one of them."
Mr Dominello would not confirm the contents of cabinet discussions but said: "They've got a pattern of behaviour," citing the campaign against another state MP, Helen Dalton.
Mr Toole did not respond to questions about his cabinet comments.
But he said in a statement that the mandatory cashless gambling policy had the unanimous backing of cabinet.
"I have consistently maintained the need for our policy to recognise the differences between a large venue in the city and a small club in the bush, which may be the only venue in a community and double as the main hub for social gatherings, community meetings and evacuation in times of disaster."
'They're picking on the wrong girl'
Ms Dalton, the MP for the border electorate of Murray, became a target of ClubsNSW after she voiced her support for poker machine reform.
"And with that, ClubsNSW just came at me," she recalled.
Ms Dalton said that at the urging of ClubsNSW, registered clubs in her electorate displayed unflattering posters of her — some life-sized — accusing her of costing local jobs.
"This is ClubsNSW, this is the way they try and intimidate and bully me," she said.
"I'm not going to go away and hide from this and kowtow to them at all. Basically, they're picking on the wrong girl because I'll stand up for my constituents."
ClubsNSW declined to be interviewed by Four Corners but in a statement said: "There is no active or planned campaign against any sitting MP or candidate in the upcoming NSW election.
"The brief campaign in the Murray region late last year was sparked by the frustration felt by the 49 local clubs in the Murray electorate about Ms Dalton's refusal to meaningfully engage with them."
Ms Dalton disputes the claim that she failed to engage with clubs.
'A watershed moment'
Last October, the New South Wales Crime Commission found that billions of dollars in the proceeds of crime were put through poker machines in NSW.
It recommended the introduction of a mandatory cashless gambling system.
Premier Dominic Perrottet has embraced Crime Commission's recommendation, promising to introduce mandatory cashless gambling for all poker machines in the state to combat money laundering and problem gambling.
Labor leader Chris Minns has opted for a trial of 500 machines overseen by an expert panel.
"This is a way to ensure that we can get an evidence-based process in place for the panel to look at and provide recommendations to government," he has said.
The ClubsNSW campaign against mandatory cashless gambling has not gone to plan.
In January, its chief executive, Josh Landis, was sacked by the board after claiming Mr Perrottet's support for the policy was a result of his "Catholic gut".
For the first time in more than a decade, neither major party leader has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ClubsNSW.
ClubsNSW said it "looks forward to working constructively with whomever forms government after the election on sensible, evidence-based reform measures".
Mr Dominello believes the contest sets up a turning point for the power of the clubs industry in Australia.
"It's a fork-in-the-road moment in many ways," he said.
"Because if they succeed in this election, and essentially kick this down the road by dint of trials, then they will become even more emboldened because they will go around and say, 'See what we did? See how powerful we are?'"
Veteran gambling reform campaigner, Tasmanian federal MP Andrew Wilkie, believes it is "a watershed moment".
"If we can get deep reform in New South Wales, then I'm in no doubt that that reform will roll out across the whole country," he said.
"New South Wales has half the poker machines in Australia, half the gambling addicts in Australia, and historically the most powerful gambling lobby in Australia. So, if we get reform there, we've cracked the nut."
Read ClubsNSW's full statement to Four Corners
Watch the full Four Corners investigation on ABC iview now.
