Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay councils are fighting back against $100 million in local losses to gaming machines each year.
Both councils are joining the Alliance for Gambling Reform, a national campaign seeking widespread reforms to reduce harm from problem gambling.
Hobsons Bay councillors threw their support behind the reform alliance last week, while Maribyrnong councillors considered their own support for the alliance last night while endorsing the Maribyrnong Gambling Advocacy Plan.
Hobsons Bay councillor Sandra Wilson said the campaign gave a lot more political clout to a very important issue to local communities.
“It is not just a flash-in-the-pan attack on this really important issue,” she said.
“It will mobilise and galvanise not just leading organisations but the community around this issue, to make it well understood how electronic gaming machines hurt and harm communities.”
Cr Carl Marsich said the alliances with the Municipal Association of Victoria and the Victorian Local Governance Association would create a stronger voice, more strategic in the way problems were tackled.
“I’m hopeful that over three years we might be able to get some traction and that we can get some significant returns,” he said.
An officer’s report to Maribyrnong council on the Maribyrnong Gambling Advocacy Plan recommended the council work with not-for-profit service providers and community groups that work directly with those affected by gambling.
The report urged greater pressure be directed to gaming and planning ministers to better protect vulnerable communities harmed by significant gambling.
“Maribyrnong per capita losses on EGMs [electronic gaming machines] are among the highest in Victoria,” the report noted. “The City of Maribyrnong had over $52 million in losses from [EGMs] in the past financial year.
“Gambling operators target disadvantaged communities. Victoria’s electronic gaming machines are concentrated in disadvantaged communities, such as Braybrook, which have higher levels of losses from [the] machines and high rates of problem gambling.”
