Authorities are linking criminal gangs with poker machines by using them at small regional pubs and clubs to launder the proceeds of illegal drug dealing and prostitution, with tens of thousands of dollars being put into the machines in a single sitting.
The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority's (ILGA) data monitoring system has identified suspect transactions at pubs and clubs in the Cessnock, Maitland, Queanbeyan-Palerang, Coffs Harbour and Bland local government areas.
These are in addition to $5.5 million worth of suspicious transactions detected at poker machines across 180 venues in Sydney since the city came out of lockdown in early October, a figure that is growing at the rate of $1 million a week.
"I would endeavour to say it could be easily double that, and over an annual period, I'd suggest it's in the hundreds of millions," ILGA director of investigations David Byrne said.
While that may be done by groups of organized criminals, Mr Byrne believes there are also instances of gangs taking advantage of gambling addicts.
"You've got someone who's very vulnerable … it's almost like child labor because they're so desperate, they'll do anything. So people could sit there in front of a machine and launder cash for an organized group for a very small amount of money in commission."
Two suspected incidents have been referred to police for further investigation.
One involves a club in the state's south where 25 suspicious plays of more than $1,400 each were put into different machines and cashed out only minutes later.
Another took place in a small club in far western NSW, where it is believed that over the course of one weekend a group of bikies put tens of thousands of dollars through the pokies, making a small number of bets before withdrawing the rest of the money on a ticket.
Of the five local government areas identified by the gaming authority, Bland Shire Council is by far the smallest, with a population of only 6,000.
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