Up $90 million from last year
New data from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation shows that residents of Australia’s most populous state lost almost $2.7 billion on pokie machines in the last financial year, the highest number in a decade and almost $90 million more than last year’s total.
The soaring losses occurred in spite of $11 million in additional funding for responsible gaming programs, according to the Daily Mail. As a result, the Victorian government took in $1.1 billion in taxes.
Tim Costello, director of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, blamed the government for the losses, saying, “We don’t say use ice (methamphetamine) responsibly. Well, pokies are the ice of gambling. Any leader who isn’t a puppet of the gaming industry would say this is health risk.”
The $2.7 billion figure represents only the losses incurred in clubs, not the 2,500 machines at Crown Melbourne.
The highest losses were felt in Brimbank, where punters gave up a collective $380,000 a day. The Guardian newspaper quoted Brimbank City Councilwoman Virginia Tachos, who said, “We see the harm poker machines are doing. That’s why we’re saying we need change. It’s destroying the fabric of our community.”
Critics are demanding a reduction in the maximum wager from $5 to $1 (punters may bet up to $10 at a time in New South Wales), and regulating venues so they can only open for 14 hours a day, rather than 20.
Licenses for poker machine venues were extended from 10 to 20 years in a 2017 measure supported by both parties, the Mail reported. That means the venues may own and operate poker machines until 2042. “Locking in the license to 2042 meant the industry that owns the venues can go out and invest in the latest technology, Costello said. “The figures don’t lie. Both of the major Victorian parties legislated for increased harm, and today they need to get out of the bunker and explain themselves.”
Despite the startling losses and intense criticism by public health advocates and anti-gaming activists, Charles Livingstone of Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said politicians do not have “much appetite” for additional regulation. He added, “I think there’s more chance in Victoria than there is in New South Wales.”
