“We are concerned that the executive committee’s report will give the government and other stakeholders a misleading impression that the recommendations have been informed by robust evidence and analysis.

“The executive committee has relied on a ‘research report’ completed by 3Arc which was based on very limited data, partly due to the limitations with the cashless trial. The report puts forward findings and recommendations not supported by evidence.”

The AHA underlined comments by Gaming Minister David Harris, who said on announcing the panel that its purpose was to advise on “the technology, infrastructure, cost, impact on industry and employment”. The panel’s executive had not advised on any of these, the lobby group said.

“This was the panel’s primary purpose. Without this information it is not possible to make an evidence-based recommendation on statewide account-based gaming – particularly as it was not trialled in any venue,” the AHA”s feedback said.

The gambling harm minimisation groups that sat on the panel mostly endorsed the recommendations, though they distanced themselves from the concept that pokie players should be able to opt out of spending and time limits.

Wesley Mission said its “firm view” was that without binding limits, an account-based digital payment system was dangerous.

“Without friction, such a system becomes a tap-and-go payment system and could fulfil predictions that people will lose far more money than intended.”

University of Sydney gambling researcher Sally Gainsbury said if a limit was non-binding, it did not meet the definition of a limit. “Rather it is a notification to customers that they have gambled a certain amount … There is minimal evidence that notifications are effective in changing consumer behaviour.”

However, executive committee chair Michael Foggo said the road map was intended to be reviewed once the recommendations were put into practice, and could be fine-tuned. The panel had realised early it would not be possible to measure the impact on industry unless the trial was statewide and mandatory, he said.

“One of the industry associations put forward [that it was] ridiculous to do a cost analysis on these objectives at the moment,” Foggo said. “They were the ones who called it out and said … ‘We can’t identify what the costs are until we know what the system will be’.”

Conceding the high drop-out rate had affected the trial, he said the panel had interviewed pokie players about why they did not want to participate, and this had informed their recommendations, including that the sign-up process needed to be simple.

The committee recommended rolling out the account-based system in three stages, with it becoming mandatory by 2028.