Woolies resists $1 limits
STRIKE THREAT PAYS OFF
WOOLWORTHS chairman Gordon Cairns doubts $1 bet limits on poker machines will help problem gamblers.
The supermarket giant is one of Australia’s largest poker machine operators, through its ownership of more than 330 hotels.
Shareholders and antigambling advocates peppered Mr Cairns with questions and criticism of the company’s poker machines operations during yesterday’s annual general meeting.
He was asked if he would consider following Coles, which owns 89 hotels, in seeking to introduce $1 maximum bets on pokies.
“There is no empirical evidence that it will improve the incidences of problem gambling,” Mr Cairns said.
He said Woolworths was the first national hotel operator to adopt voluntary precommitment, a system that allows gamblers to nominate a maximum spend or time limit on a poker machine.
“We are the most responsible operator of gaming machines in Australia and we will have that validated by a recognised world authority from Canada that is coming down to audit us,” he said.
A former gambling addict told the AGM she lost 10 years of her life to gambling and, while she no longer played the pokies, she could not go to the local pub and have a meal without feeling “the pull of the pokies room”.
“I can’t go to your venues without my brain being triggered by your machines,” she said. “Those machines took something from me that I don’t know how to get back.”
Mr Cairns said her story was “heartbreaking”, and the company was committed to ensuring people like her were looked after. “The majority of people who use our facilities come there and have an enjoyable time,” he said. “A minority of people have a problem and we have to address both.”
Anti-gambling advocate Susan Rennie said Woolworths was the most aggressive pokies operator, and lobbied against changes that could make pokies safer.
“Woolworths, the pokies people, doesn’t have the same ring as Woolworths, the fresh food people,” Dr Rennie said as she sought to gain a seat on the Woolworths board. That effort failed, with only 2.9 per cent of shareholder votes.