Punters profiled in pubs

WOOLWORTHS has confirmed staff at some of its hotels were profiling poker machine players and targeting gamblers with free drinks to encourage more betting.

The supermarket giant has announced the findings of an internal investigation into allegations that some gamblers at Woolworthsowned pubs had detailed profiles compiled about their personal lives and betting behaviour in order to keep them on poker machines longer.

The allegations were raised in February by federal MP Andrew Wilkie. Woolworths appointed former chief executive Roger Corbett to investigate the matter.

Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns yesterday said that investigation had identified some practices at some hotels in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales that were “at odds with the priorities and values of our customers and the communities where we operate”.

“At Woolworths we take our responsibilities in the community, and to gaming and the service of alcohol, very seriously,” Mr Cairns said.

Woolworths’ pubs and pokies business is housed under the ALH Group, of which it owns 75 per cent.

A statement from ALH said investigators found that, over about six months from June, 2017, employees in some Queensland pubs were “recording descriptive information about gaming customers”.

Similar practices were found in some South Australian and NSW pubs.

ALH said the practices had now been stopped and it would ban free gaming room drinks.