Venues and clubs within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) are to be offered a $15 000 government incentive for every poker machine authorisation that they are willing to surrender. The government has invested $1.74 million into this voluntary initiative that seeks to reduce the number of pokies in the territory by 116.
Once a venue has surrendered the authorisation certificates for all its pokies, it will be categorised as “pokie-free” and the incentive paid will be increased to $20,000 per surrendered authorisation.
Providing the fund is not exhausted before them, payments will be available until December 31, 2022.
Attorney general Shane Rattenbury commented,
“Community clubs should be a safe place for families and vulnerable people to meet and connect, but the exposure and access to electronic gaming machines can cause harm in our community. More than 15,000 Canberrans have experienced harm from their own gambling and 43,000 Canberrans have had a family member with gambling issues”
“Our community clubs play an important role in the social life of many Canberrans, so we want to continue supporting our clubs while reducing the harm from pokies, and I believe these surrender incentive payments can assist to achieve that,” he added.
This initiative was launched as a result of the tenth Parliamentary and Governing Agreement that prescribes the reduction of the number of gaming machine authorisations in the ACT to 3500 by 2025.
NSW community pokie grants in the balance
A recent investigation determined that close to 75% of the NSW government’s gambling revenue grant program has been funnelled into coalition electorates.
The study detailed that a large amount of revenue has been derived from Sydney’s southwest communities where pokies are abundant and $75 million of the $103.4 million program was channelled into Liberal and National electorates in NSW between 2013 and 2021.
Among the projects to receive funding were a $236,523 scenic garden pathway in the Southern Highlands, $142,675 for the replacement of an equestrian arena for a pony club in Terrigal, and an artist in residence sustainability project close to Nowra for $131,000.
A tenth of gambling profit grants was directed to clubs with pokies across NSW, of which over $1 million was allocated for “kitchen expansions, refurbishments and upgrades” and a “container kitchen/food truck” under the banner of “emergency relief”.
It was shown that over half a dozen electorates with high pokie numbers had inversely low socio-economic indicators. Areas like Bankstown, Cabramatta, Lakemba, Campbelltown, Prospect and Auburn were awarded little to no funds and these areas are also consequently mostly held by ALP politicians.
Out of the top 10 clubs in NSW for net profit per poker machine, nine are situated in these vulnerable areas.
