BIG PUNT ON THE POKIES
WHEN you do the maths on the latest figures on how much is being poured through poker machines, it seems punters have money to burn.
But of course, the social fallout would indicate otherwise.
People fed $38,677 an hour into Gold Coast pokies in December. That sort of “investment’’ – which blows out to being just shy of $1 million a day or, drilling down, $644 a minute – is breathtaking.
But consider this. The State Government figures, based on 5611 machines spread across the Gold Coast’s community clubs and pubs, do not include the 1600plus pokies at The Star casino, which is not required to provide data to the Government and always declines to comment when approached on this by the Bulletin.
As stunned as readers might be by the magnitude of pokies punting, it is not an aberration. It is a story repeated year after year. Five years ago gamblers were putting $29,000 through Coast machines each hour – excluding casino data. By last year, again excluding casino data, that had increased to $38,285 an hour.
Plenty is poured into the machines across the state, but the intensity of Gold Coast gambling can be gauged by weighing up what is spent here alongside the four major regional cities of Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and Toowoomba, where the combined total figure for December – $28,339,737 – fell short of the tourism capital’s $28.8 million.
Little wonder the big operators are circling as the Government continues to toy with the idea of a second casino – sorry, global tourism hub. Despite the Government’s argument that a new venture would be more about class entertainment, accommodation and restaurants, you would have to bet that the gaming giants interested in developing such a project would want a sizeable pokies component on the gaming floors, which begs the question of where the licences would come from, since the Government insists pokie numbers will not be increased in Queensland. Many Gold Coasters are also asking why there should be a second casino at all.
Why so much more is poured into pokies here than elsewhere hinges on the city’s holiday vibe. Domestic visitors and locals will head for the surf clubs, many of which are turning into huge complexes financed by pokies while also ploughing dollars back into lifesaving. Domestic tourists and locals also head for the RSLs and sports clubs. International tourists will jump in a cab for the casino to punt while rubbing shoulders with a cross-section of Aussie society.
But among them are the problem gamblers – and we can also bet they are contributing significantly to the pokie figures. So while there are benefits for sport and community clubs, in the case of gambling addicts the consequences are dire – families going without, broken relationships, lost jobs, even suicide.
The revenue returned to the community is a compelling argument for pokies, but the downside of drained bank accounts and families suffering is a convincing argument to apply the brakes on issuing licences and for stricter measures to ensure casinos, pubs and clubs, which must know who the problem punters are, act to protect the gambling addicts from themselves.