It started with much less fanfare than probes into Crown and The Star casinos but an inquiry into pokies at pubs and clubs is quietly underway in New South Wales.
The state's most powerful crime-fighting agency is investigating money laundering in pubs and clubs but any revelations remain hidden because all hearings are taking place in private.
The NSW Crime Commission has revealed that hearings are now underway but it cannot say when they began or how long the inquiry will run.
That is in stark contrast to the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) probes into Crown and The Star, which have publicly aired allegations of financial fraud, money laundering and organised crime.
The location of the Crime Commission hearings remains a tightly held secret, as does the identity of those summoned to appear.
And it is unclear when, or how many, of the commission's findings will be made public when it concludes.
The NSW Crime Commission is required by law to protect the privacy of those taking part and conduct its sensitive hearings behind closed doors, but Upper House independent MP Justin Field said the timing of the probe was a stroke of luck for the government.
"It is hugely beneficial to the government that the inquiry and hearings are being held in secret," he said.
Late last year, when Premier Dominic Perrottet was under pressure to act on allegations of millions of dollars being washed through pokies in pubs and clubs, the NSW Crime Commission — which is independent of government — announced it was launching an inquiry.
Mr Field is one member of parliament comfortable with criticising peak body ClubsNSW and argued the Crime Commission probe allowed the government to avoid having to call its own public inquiry.
ClubsNSW has a documented history of financial donations to the Liberals, Nationals and Labor.
A spokesperson for ClubsNSW said: "If the NSW government was concerned about ClubsNSW being opposed to an inquiry, it would not have announced an in-depth inquiry by the NSW Crime Commission."
They also said any suggestion to the contrary was, "obviously trying to tarnish the reputation of the club industry without any foundation".
But private hearings also fall short of what the ILGA had in mind when it requested the NSW government launch a Special Commission of Inquiry in a leaked letter late last year.
ILGA is the gaming regulator that commissioned the Bergin Inquiry into Crown's Barangaroo casino license and The Star inquiry, but it does not have the same regulatory power to investigate pubs as clubs.
In February last year, it found that Crown was not suitable to operate the new casino, which remains closed.
That's despite Star casino's 1,500 pokies being dwarfed by 94,000 gaming machines at pubs and clubs across the state.
Last year, the ABC reported ILGA's data monitoring system had found suspect transactions at pubs and clubs in the Cessnock, Maitland, Queanbeyan-Palerang, Coffs Harbour and Bland local government areas.
Under the NSW Crime Commission's terms of reference for the inquiry, some allowances may be made for public sittings.
"The inquiry may conduct public sittings or in-camera hearings at the discretion of the participating agencies," it reads.
These sittings differ from hearings and are used to inform the public of the commission's general operations.
A spokesperson for the NSW Crime Commission said: "At this stage, a final decision as to whether public sittings will be necessary as part of the inquiry has yet to be made."
NSW Labor is encouraging the commission to grant some level of public access.
"While respecting the independence of the Crime Commission, Labor would urge consideration be given to having a public component of the inquiry," Shadow Minister for Customer Service and Digital Yasmin Catley said.
Mr Field acknowledged the advantage of private hearings held by the commission was that evidence could later be used in court proceedings — something which is limited with public hearings.
However, the disadvantage, he claimed, was less transparency and no guarantee that any findings made against the government, regulator or peak bodies which did not warrant criminal proceedings would be made public.
"I'm sure there's a temptation to put whatever report comes [to government] from the Crime Commission in the bottom drawer and not deal with it," he said.
A NSW government spokesperson said the NSW Crime Commission was an independent agency that would determine how the inquiry was conducted and the government would consider its findings.
