HOBSONS Bay gamblers continue to blow more than $1million a week on the municipality’s 579 poker machines, new figures have revealed.
The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) figures – criticised for being released late on Friday on the eve of the launch of the Olympic Games – show Hobsons Bay punters racked up $52.6 million pokey losses in the year to June – up from $51.4 million last year.
In Maribyrnong, punters lost $56.1 million. The result is Melbourne’s third-highest rate of loss per adult and just below the $56.6 million spent in the previous financial year.
Millers Inn Hotel in Altona North was the area’s biggest winner in Hobsons Bay, collecting $14.5 million from 70 machines at more than $200,000 per machine.
Yarraville Cricket Club in Maidstone took $11.7 million from its 76 machines.
Braybrook’s Ashley Hotel collected $11.1 million from its 50 machines and Highpoint Taverner $8.5 million from 70 machines.
More than $15.5 million was lost in Braybrook, the state’s second-most disadvantaged suburb.
Monash University public health expert Charles Livingstone puts this down to pokey operators becoming more skilled at “targeting their products at vulnerable communities, identifying which games appeal most to certain demographic sub-groups, and identifying the most profitable locations, gradually ramping up their targeting and ‘mix’ of games to appeal to specific venue catchments”.
Dr Livingstone has criticised the release of the figures on the eve of the London Olympics and called for a $1 limit on bets. The figures show Victorians blew more than $2.68billion on the pokies – $30 million more than they lost the previous year.
The Productivity Commission estimates problem gamblers account for about 40percent of poker machine losses.
In the federal seat of Gellibrand, which takes in most of Hobsons Bay, an estimated 22,852 pokies users lost about $4010 each in the 2010-11 financial year, a recent Monash University study says. The losses totalled 13.9per cent of the area’s median adult wage.
The Lalor electorate, which covers Laverton, chalked up similar figures, with the average individual loss at $3748, equating to 11.8per cent of the median income.
