City’s pokies losses hit record high
GEELONG’S pokies are continuing to swallow a record amount of punters’ money, with the city posting a series of record-breaking losses in the latest gambling figures.
The city posted its highest ever September loss this year, feeding $10.1 million into the region’s 1305 machines at an average of $336,740 every single day.
It is the fourth month in a row the city has broken its monthly record, with Geelong pokies on track to swallow a record $127 million in the 2018/19 financial year.
It is also now the worst-ever three-month stretch of losses for the city.
The record-breaking losses were revealed in the latest Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation’s expenditure statistics, released yesterday.
The latest losses add weight to a Geelong Council fight against Geelong RSL’s bid to host an extra 30 gaming machines in its Belmont venue, The Alliance for Gambling Reform director Tim Costello said.
“These figures just confirm why it is so important for council to fight the additional 30 machines proposed at the Geelong RSL,” Mr Costello said.
“Geelong has the most pokies and the most pokies venues of any Victorian council and the losses are only getting worse, so it is time for radical reforms to address these harms given that Australians spend more on gambling than any other country and Geelong’s per capita losses are above the Victorian average.”
The latest recordbreaking losses come after The City of Greater Geelong this week voted to commit up to $8000 for external lawyers and its own legal staff to fight Geelong RSL’s bid to raise its gaming room capacity from 42 pokies machines to 72.
Councillor Sarah Mansfield said the rare move would give the City a greater chance at blocking the licences.
“I believe, as a council, we can and must do everything we can to reduce the harm from problem gambling related to pokies,” Cr Mansfield said.
“Historically, a written response to an application to increase pokies has been very unlikely to impact the VCGLR’s decision. In contrast, there have been multiple cases in recent times where councils have had success by appearing in person via legal representation.
“This course of action has resulted in applications being rejected altogether, or at least achieving significant concessions that reduce potential harms to the community.”
A hearing at the commission is listed for November 21.
Victorian pokies losses for the first nine months of 2018 cracked $2 billion for the first time.
The state’s punters suffered their highest ever pokies losses in September, with the previous worst monthly loss of $224.75 million (2017) surpassed with a loss of $229.4 million.