One of NSW's fastest-ageing communities is losing more than $330,000 every day on poker machines, prompting renewed calls for gambling reform ahead of a key Tweed Shire Council vote next week.
On 18 June 2026, Councillor Nola Firth, will move a motion calling on Tweed Shire Council to formally support Wesley Mission's Put Pokies in Their Place campaign and advocate for stronger action from the NSW Government to reduce gambling harm.
The motion comes as figures reveal people in the Tweed lost more than $30.3 million on poker machines in the first quarter of 2026 alone, an average of more than $336,000 every day.
Wesley Mission CEO, Rev Stu Cameron, says the figures should alarm every resident and every level of government.
"People in the Tweed are losing more than $336,000 every single day on poker machines. This is one of NSW's fastest-ageing communities, with growing numbers of residents living on fixed incomes and facing cost-of-living pressures. Yet governments continue to delay reforms that would reduce harm immediately.
"When losses reach these levels in a community like the Tweed, the impacts do not stay inside clubs and pubs. They show up in financial hardship, housing stress, relationship breakdown, mental health challenges and increased demand for community services. Every dollar lost on a poker machine is a dollar not being spent in local businesses, supporting families or strengthening the community."
The motion supports a series of practical reforms including mandatory cashless gaming with harm reduction safeguards, powering down poker machines during high-risk overnight hours, a statewide self-exclusion register, greater transparency around gambling losses and stronger community input into poker machine density.
Rev Cameron says councils across NSW are increasingly stepping forward because they are left to deal with the consequences of gambling harm while lacking the power to address its causes.
"Councils are stepping up because they can see the damage being done. They see the financial distress. They see the pressure on families. They see the social consequences. What they do not have are the powers to regulate poker machines. Those powers sit with the NSW Government."
"This is why the voice of the Tweed matters. It is another signal that communities are growing tired of seeing gambling losses climb while meaningful reform is delayed."
Rev Cameron says one of the simplest and most effective gambling harm reduction measures remains readily available.
"If poker machines were powered down between midnight and 10am tomorrow, families would save millions of dollars almost immediately. The evidence is clear, late night and early morning gambling carries a higher risk of harm. This reform would reduce harm without shutting a single venue."
More than 60 organisations have joined Wesley Mission's Put Pokies in Their Place campaign, which calls for practical, evidence-based reforms to reduce gambling harm and give communities a greater say over poker machine proliferation.
Rev Cameron hopes Tweed Shire Council's leadership encourages other councils across NSW to follow.
"This is not about being anti-pokies. It is about whether community well-being comes before poker machine profits. This motion gives Tweed Shire Council an opportunity to stand with local families and send a clear message to the NSW Government the status quo is no longer acceptable."
"If one of NSW's fastest-ageing communities can lose more than $30 million in just three months and still not trigger urgent reform, what will?"
Wesley Mission is encouraging Tweed residents to speak in favour of the motion at council's public forum on 18 June 2026.
