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POKIES SWALLOW ANOTHER $200 MILLION IN 2011-12
Kim Booth MP
Greens Gaming Spokesperson

The Tasmanian Greens today revealed that Tasmanians lost a massive $208 million on poker machines during 2011-12 financial year, and renewed the call for Labor and Liberal to support a $1 per spin bet limit.

Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth said that monthly in-arrears figures published by the Treasury Department revealed that Tasmanians lost a total of $208,151,149 from June 2011 to June 2012.

“These unacceptably high losses are broadly in line with previous years, and what it shows is that the current anti gambling measures just aren’t enough to limit the harm,” Mr Booth said.

“It is a sickeningly large amount of money that will never be available for families struggling to make ends meet, or for businesses to stimulate the economy at a time when we need it most.”

“At a time of growing awareness of cost of living pressures impacting on Tasmanians, it is beyond comprehension that Labor and Liberal are happy to stand back and watch over $200 million per year, sucked into these machines.”

“The losses are also a tragic down-payment on future harm to the community, in the form of fraud and theft that frequently occurs to feed gambling habits, not to mention the terrible consequences for mental health and family breakdown.”

“The Greens have already tabled legislation for a $1 bet limit in State Parliament, and an amendment to allow local councils a say on where pokies go.”

“We only need Labor or Liberal to publicly commit to supporting these Bills when they are debated, so we can start to undo some of the damage.”

“These are just interim steps toward what’s really needed to solve this problem, which is a full roll-back of poker machines from the community.”

The Greens remain the only party to support:

• $1 per spin bet limits.

• ‘Plain packaging’ for poker machines.

• Requiring casinos to contribute 4 per cent of profits toward the Community Support Levy, in line with what pubs and clubs pay.

• Legislating for local councils to have a say on pokies numbers and locations in their municipalities.

Reference: Department of Treasury and Finance, Electronic Gaming Machine Expenditure by
Rolling Year,

http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/domino/dtf/dtf.nsf/6044ee0c1cf958a2ca256f2500108bba/cd36bfc11d136484ca2575e10006e703?OpenDocument”