A veto by the Green party, one of the members of the Australia Capital Territory (ACT) government coalition is tying up whether Canberra, the capital of the territory, will be allowed to deploy poker machines.
The ACT government approved of the poker machines a year and a half ago, but the Greens are now dragging their feet, insisting one a lower bet limit per spin that what had been approved: $10. This would put the territory in line with New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland, where spins are limited to $5.
Several years ago, the Productivity Commission recommended that limit be $1. The ACT Greens are pushing for $1 or at a maximum $5. Because their party holds the balance of power in the Labor government coalition, they have the power to stop things.
Poker machine manufacturer Gaming Technology Association complains that spin limits should be consistent across the territory and that if it provided 200 machines with such low limits they wouldn’t be profitable.
