So much for cutting back on pokies

01jan06

The Advertiser

GAMBLING revenue has surged almost $10 million since 2202 poker machines were stripped from South Australian pubs and clubs.

The cutbacks – intended to curb problem gambling – saw more than $193 million spent in July, August and September.

Data from the Office of the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner shows the net revenue from poker machines is up from $184 million in the previous April-to-June quarter, when more machines were operating.

Figures for the October-to-December quarter are yet to be finalised and will be released early this year.

Welfare agencies and addiction treatment groups have branded the situation "a farce", saying publicity of the State Government working to address problem gambling was "nonsense".

"It's a farce," said Robert Mittiga, the Gambling Addiction Treatment Service's program director.

"The Government is focusing its attention on certain types of band-aid solutions to make it look as though it is doing something to deal with gambling addiction.

"The reality is the likelihood of reducing problem gambling by removing machines is next to zero. It's a load of nonsense.

"If you stopped selling hard liquor and only sold beer, would that treat alcohol addiction?"

In July, 12 hotels and clubs went pokie-free by selling all of their pokie licences for $50,000 a machine.

The cuts are part of a gambling overhaul, which will result in 3000 machines eventually being switched off.

This follows a report by the Independent Gambling Authority which called for measures to tackle problem gambling.

Salvation Army gambling counsellor Garry Raymond said, with fewer machines, compulsive pokie punters were hesitant to break spurts of gambling for fear certain machines would be "taken up" by other users.

"I have heard of instances of people hesitating leaving a machine because they were concerned about it being taken by another person," he said.

"With fewer machines, you'd expect to see an eventual decrease (in revenue). But whether that happens remains to be seen."

Gambling revenue has steadily increased in the past three financial years, rising from $669 million in 2002/2003 to $749.25 last financial year.

Mr Mittiga, a reformed gambling addict, said removing machines would have little impact on problem gamblers, who would seek out alternative poker machines for a fix.

"Until the Government gets serious, we aren't going anywhere. We are going backwards," he said.

"We need to look at prevention by educating children about the dangers of gambling – not just taking away 2000 machines."

Mr Mitttiga said, of people who registered for help, about 80 per cent had a pathological gambling disorder.

Uniting Care Wesley advocacy manager Mark Henley said more significant results to combat problem gambling would come as a culmination of fewer machines, stricter codes of practice and smoking bans in gaming rooms due to be implemented in 2007.

As well, the full impact of the cutbacks would not be felt until all 3000 machines were switched off.

"The first to go were those that were doing the least business," Mr Henley said. "These would have been the less popular machines, there's no doubt about that."

Opposition gambling spokesman Robert Brokenshire said the increased revenue was "no surprise".

"This proves Mike Rann is all about stunts rather than results," he said. "The Premier must explain to the community why this move hasn't worked in addressing problem gambling."

Mr Brokenshire said some of the profits from super-pokie venues needed to be invested in counselling services and early-intervention programs.

He said some problem gamblers waited up to three months for help.

But acting Gambling Minister Patrick Conlon said the increase was due mainly to seasonal factors.

"The Independent Gambling Authority recommended a cut in poker machines by 3000 after extensive community consultation. We took their advice and acted," he said.

"How quickly this happens depends on venues taking up the opportunity to sell their machines."

Mr Conlon said the Government had put an extra $2 million into the Gamblers' Rehabilitation Fund and introduced an education program in schools for students between Years 6 and 12.

Gambling with lives

30dec05

V ICTORIA'S big gamble on poker machines has been a financial winner – but it has come at a cost.

Successive state governments have reaped billions of dollars from the gaming industry since it was introduced in 1992.

But a new report on the community impact of pokies has confirmed what many have long suspected: the success of the industry is partly based on the misery of problem gamblers.

The report compared the impact of gambling in Victoria and Western Australia, which has all its poker machines at Burswood casino in Perth.

WA had a clear pattern of less problem gambling, less household income being lost and fewer gambling related health issues.

It is not practical for Victoria to turn back the poker machine tide to replicate the WA system, but there is still plenty we can do to minimise their harm.

The rate at which problem gamblers can lose their money must be slowed.

The report shows that the accessibility of ATMs at Victorian licensed venues has led to a higher cash withdrawal rate for poker machine players.

The Government has restricted ATM transactions at pokie venues to $200.

But it is obvious that tougher restrictions or a ban on ATMs in venues would help ease losses for problem gamblers.

In 2001, the Herald Sun called for $10 limits on note-fed pokies or even a return to coin-only machines.

This commonsense initiative would have slowed down play and made gamblers more aware of how much they are losing.

Pokies are here to stay, but we must make sure that the state budget is not bankrolled by the misery of pokie victims.

Study will reveal true pokies toll: Xenophon
By JEMMA CHAPMAN
30dec05

The Advertiser

A MAJOR study into the widespread community impact of poker machines should be conducted in South Australia, following damning findings in Victoria, No Pokies MLC Nick Xenophon says.

Mr Xenophon yesterday called on the Independent Gambling Authority to commission a report from the SA Centre for Economic Studies.

His call follows a report which found that poker machines had damaged Victoria's health and hospitality industries and had failed to boost tourism or retail jobs.

The study - Community Impacts of Electronic Gaming Machine Gambling - found poker machines had caused a surge in problem gambling and had lured people into crime.

Mr Xenophon said the study "confirms the huge social and economic shifts that occur once pokies flood into a community".

The study compared Victoria with WA, which has far fewer poker machines, and showed that problem gambling was worse in Victoria.

The report included some SA statistics, including that 56 per cent of South Australians regarded problem gambling as being "extremely" serious and 34 per cent saw the problem as "quite" serious.

The IGA could not be contacted yesterday. But a Federal Government body charged with investigating gambling has just agreed on a definition for problem gambling - five years after being established.

The 28-word definition cost the taxpayer nearly $1 million, and required state, territory and federal government agreement.

Social welfare experts have described it as an example of bureaucratic madness, saying a conversation with any gambler in any pub in Australia could elicit a definition within a few minutes.

Bid rumours propel Tabcorp

By BYRON KAYE

Daily Telegraph

December 30, 2005

SHARES in Tabcorp, owner of Sydney's Star City casino, rose for a second day as talk swirled of a possible bid from PBL under the control of James Packer.

Mr Packer has been moving PBL away from its traditional TV and publishing into gaming since becoming executive chairman in 1998.

After the death of his father Kerry Packer this week, James Packer's hunger for media assets is expected to intensify.

Shares in Tabcorp, which also owns three Jupiters casinos in Queensland, rose 12c to $15.56, adding to a 27c gain the day before.

"In the scheme of things after Kerry Packer's death, there's quite a few people thinking that James Packer is looking at expanding the gaming side of the business, rather than the news and media side of things," ABN Amro Morgans Stockbroking client adviser Trent Muller said.

James Packer is thought to have been the driving force behind PBL's acquisition of Perth's Burswood casino in 2004. PBL also owns Melbourne's Crown casino.

Plea to cut pokies, end gaming woes

By Martin Boulton
December 30, 2005

The Age

THE woman who designed a study into the effects of gambling has urged a cutback in poker machines across Victoria.

Linda Hancock is the former chairwoman of the Gambling Research Panel, which was abolished last year and replaced by an advisory committee that reports to Gaming Minister John Pandazopoulos.

An associate professor at Deakin University, she told The Age she believed the panel was abolished because its research was "too provocative".

The report was released two days before Christmas, five months after it was finished, she said, labelling the timing a manipulation by the Government.

She said examining the impact of gambling on the community revealed a need for change in the Government's approach to gambling.

"Our surveys show the people of Victoria think the Government should reduce the number of machines," she said.

The Community Impacts of Electronic Gaming Machine Gambling study compared Victoria's poker-machine use with that in Western Australia, which has no poker machines outside the Burswood casino in Perth. It found Victoria's gaming expenditure was $1133 per adult in 2002-03, compared with $460 in Western Australia.

The report said Victoria had 540 gaming venues, making access to gaming machines "relatively high". "The key difference … is the 27,500 machines available in hotels and clubs in Victoria, which are not available in Western Australia."

The report also said: "More clients in Victoria attend financial counselling with gambling problems and the pattern of referrals confirms it is electronic gaming machine play that is the source of the problem."

Yesterday Premier Steve Bracks defended the Government's position, saying it would use "the report in tackling problem gambling.

"It's not our policy to close down the gaming industry … the attack is on problem gaming, not gaming in general," Mr Bracks said.

Mr Pandazopoulos said the study, one of four commissioned by the Government, looked at harm-minimisation measures and found that smoking bans, limiting the amount of money that machines would accept at one time and limiting venue hours were the most effective ways of dealing with problem gambling.

"There is no easy answer," he said. "For the majority of people gambling is an enjoyable, harmless experience. There are others who struggle with it, just like any other addiction."

But Opposition Leader Robert Doyle said that when it came to tackling gambling problems, the Government was "a pack of hypocrites".

"We have said we would reduce the number of electronic gaming machines by 5000 … You won't find the Bracks Government matching that," he said.

War of words over gambling
Nicolette Burke
30dec05

Herald-Sun

PROBLEM gambling has been defined -- after a $900,000 two-year inquiry.

Social welfare experts say the search for the 28-word definition is an example of bureaucratic madness: a conversation with any gambler in any pub could provide a definition within a few minutes.

The research was commissioned by the Ministerial Council on Gambling, headed by federal Family and Community Services Minister Kay Patterson, with representatives from states and territories.

The 200-page report says "problem gambling is characterised by difficulties in limiting money and/or time spent on gambling which leads to adverse consequences for the gambler, others or for the community."

The council has met five times since 2000, and has made some progress in developing a national framework on problem gambling.

Family First Senator Steve Fielding said the money could have been better spent on fixing the problem.

A spokesman for Senator Patterson said it was incorrect to say the definition cost $900,000, despite the fact the body has created just one report with this funding.

Last Update: Thursday, December 29, 2005. 12:37pm (AEDT)

ABCNewsonline

Problem gambling report no surprise to Bracks

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has defended the State Government's handling of problem gambling.

A government-commissioned report has revealed the number of new problem gamblers attending counselling is 13 times higher in Victoria than in Western Australia.

The Premier says he is not surprised by the report's findings and gaming will continue in Victoria.

"In Victoria, it's not our policy to say that we should close down the gaming industry," he said.

"What needs to be done is in balance and moderation and the attack is on problem gaming, not on gaming in general."

Pokies cause most gambling problems
Rick Wallace
December 29, 2005

The Australian

DAMNING new research on the effect of poker machines has found the rate of problem gambling is three times higher in Victoria than in Western Australia, whose only gaming machines are in the Burswood casino.

The survey - commissioned by a research panel the Victorian Government has now scrapped - found Victorians spend more than twice as much on gambling as West Australians.

Victorians spend $1133 a year on gambling compared with just $460 in Western Australia, with the $624 a year spent by Victorians on poker machines accounting for almost all the difference.

"More clients in Victoria attend financial counselling with gambling problems, and the pattern of referrals confirms it is electronic gaming machine play that is the source of the problem," the study says.

Another report released yesterday reveals problem gamblers are getting around the Bracks Government's $200 withdrawal limit from ATMs in gaming venues by making multiple withdrawals, and that the clocks each venue must have in their gaming areas are too small, not visible or difficult to read.

Victoria has more than 27,000 poker machines in hotels, pubs, clubs and the Crown casino.

There has been a strong community backlash, backed up in the survey, which found no corresponding increase in employment in gaming venues, despite ever-increasing amounts lost by gamblers.

The Community Impacts of Electronic Gaming Machine Gambling report, compiled by the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, found 85per cent of Victorians believe gambling is a serious social problem in the state, and 75per cent believe it is too widely accessible.

State Gaming Minister John Pandazopoulos also released three reports on problem gambling yesterday.

In response to growing public concern about gambling, the Bracks Government has introduced regional caps, bank withdrawal limits and other restrictions on venues - but critics say it falls short of election promises.

One measure the Government has resisted introducing - a ban on ATMs in gaming venues - was rated by gamblers as one of the most needed reforms.

"Players specifically state that ATMs should be removed from gaming venues, and in doing so, rank this as possibly the most effective measure that could be introduced in the future," the report says. It found most players use an ATM at least once during a gambling session and lose the money on gambling rather than spending it on food or drink.