Pokie machine

Fridays agreement between Julia Gillard and Andrew Wilkie ensured a 74th seat for the ALP in the parliament of the most gambling-addicted country on earth. So will this be effective policy, or is it just pork-barrel politics cloaked in altruism?

The agreement included a commitment to gambling reforms, most notably to electronic poker machines or ‘pokies’.

Wilkie had previously made it clear that pokie reform was his ‘flashpoint’ issue, announcing last week in a press conference with independent senator Nick Xenophon that it was time for government intervention to help problem gamblers.

“It defies belief that the Labor Party and Liberal Party have so far been so reluctant to bring about meaningful reform when it comes to poker machines nationally,” he said.

The agreement makes it clear any future Gillard government will be “supporting the Productivity Commission recommendations in tackling problem gambling linked to pokie machines.

Such reforms include electronic ‘dynamic warning’ and cost of play displays on machines and a $250 daily withdrawal limit from ATM’s in venues with poker machines, excluding casinos.

The scheme would be fully underway by 2014, and while the Federal government would seek to work actively with each state on the issue, it would exercise its “greater legislative authority” if necessary.

Poker machines are big business, with Woolworths alone raking in $1.1 billion in revenue from its 12 000 machines last financial year.

Gillard has also ensured the wrath of some of her biggest political benefactors. The ALP received almost $1 million from gambling interests into her party’s coffers over the 2008-09 period.

Clubs Australia executive director Anthony Ball wrote in a media release that the policy was doomed to failure and not evidence-based.

“The rate of problem gambling in Australia is now calculated to be less than half of 1 per cent of adults. There is no research to link ATM cash withdrawals to problem gambling, in fact research suggests ATMs located in clubs offer the community both security and convenience,” he said.

Ball referred to a “Productivity Commission report that states that the net social benefit to the Australian economy from gambling is between $4 and $11 billion annually. The club industry is supported by more than ten million Australians, and provides more than $3 billion in sporting facilities, and 80,000 direct jobs.”

Stephen Mayne, an anti-pokies activist and former senate-candidate told the ABC that the measures will hit companies with interests in pokies in the hip pocket.

“The $10 billion figure (the estimated annual losses of Australian’s on pokies) will come down if you see these sorts of strong regulations such as a mandated pre-commitment system,” he said.