gambling reform & gambling harm awareness
Ever wondered how much money your local club or pub makes from poker machines? How addicted they are to gambling revenue?
Now you can find out.
In a stunning turnaround, Casey Council tonight ignored their own recommendation and voted unanimously TO OPPOSE more poker machines at Zagame’s Berwick Springs hotel.
A guest post from Leigh Mason, the current Chairperson of the Gambling Impact Society NSW, in response to recent comments by and articles about ACT Liberal MLA Mark Parton. We need more of Leigh’s honesty and passion and less of Mark’s disingenuous approach and opposition to gambling reform. Let’s hope he’s listening.
When I heard the news yesterday that the Victorian government was announcing new poker machine reforms, I was understandably interested. There hadn’t been any warning that an announcement was on the cards… what kind of reforms were they going to announce? After years of inertia and tinkering around the edges, were we finally going to see some change that really mattered?
Short answer: no.
They’re NSW’s dirty dozen: 12 registered clubs that in any other country would be called casinos. Enormous entertainment complexes that between them operate close to seven thousand poker machines, make almost one billion dollars in gambling revenue every year… yet call themselves not-for-profit organisations and enjoy lucrative tax concessions from the state government.
The biggest pokies pub in the City of Casey has just applied for 10 more poker machines… and this local resident is determined to make sure it doesn’t succeed.
Two new pubs are planned for Melbourne’s south-east… and they couldn’t be more different.
This is incredibly disappointing. Lifeline boss Carrie Leeson has taken a position on the board of a new clubs lobby group in the ACT, which not only represents clubs with over 1000 poker machines but is also calling for access to automated casino-style gambling in clubs.
Officer is a small suburb in the Shire of Cardinia, deep in Melbourne’s south-east. Nestled in between Beaconsfield and Pakenham, it’s part of Melbourne’s expanding growth corridor… and bizarrely, that puts it at threat from Victoria’s poker machine industry.
Losses on Victoria’s poker machines have jumped to a 4-year high amid renewed calls for more effective action on gambling reform.
Victoria’s new voluntary pre-commitment card for poker machines looks set to be declared a dud, with pokies losses increasing since the scheme began.
Australians are gambling more than ever before… and the gambling industry says they’re baffled by the surge in losses.
It’s December 1. Apart from being the first day of summer, that also means it’s the first day of Yourplay, the Victorian government’s much-hyped pre-commitment system for poker machines.
Clubs NSW have announced today that they are dropping their defamation case against Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, just days after declaring they had commenced legal proceedings.
