This will be an election year issue
Independent Australian lawmakers Senator Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie are gearing up for another round in their fight against gambling.
According to ABC News, Xenophon and Wilkie are pushing for a $1 bet limit on pokies and a ban on gambling ads during sports broadcasts. They also want to reinstate a joint select committee on gaming reform, and Wilkie has demanded greater scrutiny of political donations from gaming companies.
“We need reform of political donations generally and we need to do what we can to shine a light with the current laws with where the money’s coming from and where it’s going,” he said.
Xenophon, meanwhile, warns gambling could be a “potent issue” during the next election, which may be as early as 2018.
“There’s one thing the gambling lobby can’t compete with, no matter how many millions they pour into the campaign—the fact is there are literally hundreds and thousands of Australians hurt by gambling addictions,” he said. “Conservatively, one in 10 Australians are being affected by gambling addiction in this country. That’s a very significant constituency that can’t be ignored.”
Meanwhile, the Gaming Technologies Association said claims that there are rigged poker machines operating in the Australian market are untrue.
“The gaming industry, community and government have been working together for many years to create a properly regulated and responsible industry,” GTA Chief Executive Ross Ferrar said. “Let’s stick to the facts. Australia has one of the most stringent regulatory environments for poker machines in the world. Regulators impose comprehensive conditions on every aspect of poker machine design and operation. To be clear, state government regulations in Australia expressly prohibit ‘near-miss’ machines, and there is no disguising the outcome of any bet.”
He added that bet limits in Australia “are among the lowest, and play speed the slowest in the world.”
The GTA website contends that the cost of “transitioning” Australian gaming machines to comport with critics’ demands would range from $5,000 for newer machines to $9,000 for machines between three and five years old, while all older machines, representing 64 percent of the total Australia, would have to be replaced. It estimates the total cost would be approximately $3.6 billion.
“The question must be asked, who is going to meet this cost?” Ferrar said.
Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Malcolm Turnbull has said gaming regulation must be managed by the state, not the federal government. But Xenophon said Turnbull is wrong to pass on the responsibility. “This ought to be done, not because it’s a bargaining chip, but because it’s unambiguously the right thing to do—there are so many people who are suffering,” he said.
The Associated Press reports that Turnbull’s coalition will have a majority of just one or two seats in the House of Representatives, where the majority party forms the government, and will be a minority in the Senate, meaning it will need support to pass any laws. Xenophon sees that as leverage for gaming opponents.
“We will be planning a whole series of measures, both in the parliament and outside the parliament, to deal with the issue of gambling reform and in particular, one issue that has resonated throughout the community and that is on the issue of sports-betting advertising,” the senator said.
