BLOW UP THE POKIES

Landmark survey finds most Victorians want tougher action on gambling Geelong loses $1 million to pokies every three days

AS Geelong loses about $1 million to poker machines every three days, a landmark Deakin study has found most Victorians want to see tougher action on gambling reform.

Government statistics show the Geelong region — including the Borough of Queenscliffe — lost $110.5 million to pokies in the year to June, almost $10 million each month. The stats don’t include losses to casinos or sports betting.

The major Deakin University study published yesterday found the “vast majority” of Victorians believed more needed to be done to regulate the industry. The surveyed group of 500 believed casinos were the most dangerous form of gambling, closely followed by pokies, horse racing and sports betting.

Lead researcher associate professor Samantha Thomas said the perceived dangers of gambling weren’t stopping Victorians from taking a punt.

“However, despite a perception that pokies were harmful, one in five participants reported gambling on pokies at least monthly,” Ms Thomas said.

“The same proportion of participants also said they en- gaged in sports betting at least once per month.

“This suggests that despite community awareness of the potential harms caused by gambling, other factors — such as their convenience, availability and persuasive promotional campaigns — seem to be enticing people to engage with them anyway.

“It’s these other factors that need to be addressed more effectively.”

The study found there was “strong support’’ for the ban- ning of gambling advertising during sports matches and at sporting venues. It also found more than three-quarters of those surveyed supported a reduction in the number of pokies machines across the state.

The study comes just days after State Gaming Minister Marlene Kairouz announced machine numbers would be frozen at 27,372 for the next 25 years, with a cap of 105 per venue.

A 2016 report found Geelong had fed a total of $2.24 bil- lion into pokies machines since their 1992 introduction, while Victoria as a whole had spent more than $50 billion in that time.

The City of Greater Geelong was fourth on the list of municipalities losing the most.

Ms Thomas said Governments had not done enough to protect Victorians from gambling harm. “Governments have been largely reluctant to implement a comprehensive public health approach to reducing gambling harm, as they have done in other areas like tobacco,” Ms Thomas said.

“It simply isn’t good enough for the gambling industry and governments to focus on individual responsibility to minimise the harms associated with problem gambling ”.

“Clearly this strategy hasn’t worked to either prevent or reduce the harms associated with gambling products, and we need to see further expansion of evidence-based approaches that can make a real difference.”