Lobby group calls for pokies venues to be exempt from facial recognition and biometric data laws

Many venues in South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales use facial recognition software to detect self-excluded gamblers, despite concerns from privacy advocacy groups. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

A lobby group for Australian clubs has called for some of the country’s biggest poker machine venues to be exempt from new laws so it can store biometric data for several years and use facial technology to identify gambling addicts.

Tough restrictions on the collection, use, storage and destruction of biometric data – including facial recognition technology – have been proposed as part of the development of the federal government’s digital identity scheme, in an effort to improve privacy and protect sensitive information.