IAG MAR 2023

IAG MAR 2023年3月 亞博匯 50 COLUMNISTS transferred in an ongoing shell game. To theextent there isevidence concerning the merits of digital wallets or mandated cashless gaming, it paints a complicated and conflicted picture. Curiosity if not scepticism should be awakened when the principal or only case study cited for the benefits of mandated cashless gaming is Norway. Norway maintains a state- run gambling monopoly, and prior to the 2007 ban on slot machines, subsequent replacement with video lottery terminals and enlarged participation in online gambling, slots were easily accessible including in shopping centres and trains stations and the problem gambling prevalence rate was reported as 1.4%. When weighing the relevance of this problem gambling prevalence rate, an instructive benchmark is the 2019 NSW problem gambling prevalence research which identified the problem gambling prevalence rate at 1%. Though this was an increase from 0.8% on the previous study, it was not statistically significant and the rate had been stable for some 15 years. While the success of the 2007 Norwegian Government intervention in the gaming sector remains contested, a 2022 study by the Norwegian National Competence Centre for Gaming Research estimated the cost of gambling harm in Norway at US$585.5 million annually and reported the problem gambling prevalence rate once again at 1.4%, up from 0.9% in 2015. While not an uncritical cheerleader, I am an advocate for the significant anti-money laundering and responsible gambling potential of digital wallets and cashless gaming, but any transition towards a cashless environment should be in cadence with the trends in retail payments more broadly or an acceleration by industry as created by by leading operators in other major jurisdictions.