Between July 1999 and June 2015, ClubsNSW made over $2 million in political donations to the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal-National Coalition, as well directly to politicians, in an effort to lobby for gambling industry interests.

[3] The organisation has used its status to influence political events, notably when it spent an estimated $3.5 million to successfully campaign against gambling reforms proposed by federal MP Andrew Wilkie, leading to the Labor government of Julia Gillard rescinding its commitment to implement them.

[4][5] According to The Sydney Morning Herald in May 2013, ClubsNSW executives attended a lobbying course in Washington DC, including seminars from members of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) in an effort to learn "how to use a large membership base to force political outcomes".

[7] Troy Stolz worked for ClubsNSW as a compliance officer, but resigned from the company in September 2019 after he leaked an internal document to MP Andrew Wilkie showing that only 5 to 10 percent of venues represented by ClubsNSW were in compliance with anti-money laundering laws; Stolz alleged that money laundering in New South Wales gambling venues was rife.

[9][10] In July 2022, YouTube personality Jordan Shanks, better known as Friendlyjordies, published a video titled The Legal Way to Take a Life, which featured an interview with Stolz.