The state government is failing to protect vulnerable communities from the harm of poker machines, a new council-led campaign is claiming.
Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay councils have joined a statewide Enough Pokies campaign by councils seeking tighter controls on operators deliberately concentrating poker machines in areas of great disadvantage, such as Braybrook.
Maribyrnong mayor Grant Miles said the council had an obligation to help protect vulnerable communities from inappropriate pokies placement.
“Every day in the city of Maribyrnong, $145,000 is lost to gambling on pokies, which equates to $52.9 million per year,” he said.
More than $6000 an hour was spent on poker machines in Maribyrnong in the past financial year – the third-highest spending rate in Victoria at an average of $826 per adult.
The multiple councils’ campaign calls for new laws guiding how the Victorian Commission for Liquor and Gambling Regulation (VCLGR) applies its “no net detriment” test.
Cr Miles said that of the 154 VCLGR decisions since July 2008, 93 per cent of objections had been decided in favour of gaming operators.
Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce chairman Tim Costello said greater efforts were needed to limit the damage done by $2.5 billion being lost to pokies across Victoria each year.
The state government did not respond.
