Pokies losses hit $2.6m in five days

THE reopening of the state’s poker machines was accompanied by a five-day binge in which punters blew $2.6 million.

Independent MLC for Nelson Meg Webb said figures from the Department of Treasury and Finance showed gamblers lost $525,000 per day in the five days venues were open in June.

“Even with fewer machines operating due to social distancing, this was a spike of more than 25 per cent per day compared to March this year,” she said.

“With clear evidence of the risk posed, Premier [Peter] Gutwein knowingly put Tasmanians in harm’s way by turning poker machines back on at the behest of the same vested interests that funded his government’s 2018 election campaign.”

The harm caused was made worse by the potential for people to gamble away savings, money withdrawn from their super or increased social security payments, she said.

The figures suggest that more than $11 million has been sucked out of the economy since the pokies reopened — money that could have helped local businesses stay afloat.

A government spokeswoman said the gambling industry provided jobs.

“The gaming sector, along with the entire tourism and hospitality sector, has seen significant job losses during the recent closure due to COVID-19,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

“The relaxation of restrictions, including the return of gaming, was made based on public health advice with venues implementing COVIDsafe plans to minimise risk.”

AMBER WILSON

AFTER the Port Arthur massacre, seasoned New Town gunsmith and dealer Stuart Norton Woods was appointed as a valuer for Prime Minister John Howard’s gun buyback scheme.

But the 72-year-old gun seller, antique collector, hunter and adviser has now fallen from grace, with a Hobart magistrate condemning his “arrogant disregard” for firearms laws – and slapping him with a hefty $12,500 fine.

On Thursday, Woods faced the Hobart Magistrates Court after police searched his two New Town shops and residence, finding a host of guns that were unregistered or illegally stored, with some secretly stashed in his bookshelf.

One of the guns police found on his shelves was a loaded and unregistered Colt semiautomatic pistol, secretly obscured inside the pages of a hardback Reader’s Digest book entitled Great Short Tales of Mystery and Terror.

They also found an unregistered semiautomatic rifle during the same search in April, 2015. These were exactly the types of weapons the country was asked to surrender decades ago after the 1996 massacre.

While handing down his sentence, Magistrate Reg Marron said, at the time, Woods had been suspended from trading. Police found a number of other unregistered guns on his premises including a bolt-action rifle and an 1885 Winchester rifle.

They also uncovered a number of registered guns that were stored improperly in Woods’ workshop including a Birmingham Small Arms sports rifle, a hornet gun, a Harrington & Richardson revolver and a number of “black powder” pre-1900 antique weapons including an 1880 Colt 42 and an Enfield military .303 rifle.

On top of his bookshelf, Woods was storing a silencer.

His lawyer James Crotty previously argued the dealer had an honest but mistaken