Hume and Whittlesea punters have spent almost $200 million on poker machines in the past year – about $11,000 an hour in each city.
Annual figures released by the Victorian Commission for Gaming and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) last week show an alarming increase in poker machine spending, with players in the two cities
each losing $3 million more than the year before.
In the past financial year, $96.2 million was spent at Whittlesea’s 10 pokies venues, while Hume’s 15 venues raked in a total of $101.82 million.
Whittlesea Interagency Taskforce on Gambling spokesman Jemal Ahmet said the Epping Plaza Hotel was still the leading drain on the budgets of Whittlesea families and had been the biggest earner in Victoria for several years.
He said pokies spending in Whittlesea in the past year equated to almost $700 for every adult living in the municipality.
He put some of the increased pokies expenditure down to 40 new poker machines at the newly renovated Bridge Inn Hotel in Mernda.
“After only seven months in operation, more than $2.5 million has already been lost there,” Mr Ahmet said
He said the council and residents had fought an unsuccessful battle to keep the new machines out of the municipality.
“The efforts of Whittlesea council did achieve a reduction in the number of machine licences granted from 60 to 40,” Mr Ahmet said.
“But in what can only be described as an act of blatant disregard for community wishes on this issue, the Bridge Inn Hotel has now lodged a new licence application
with the VCGLR for an additional 20 machines.” He said councils spent thousands of dollars in ratepayers’ money fighting against the growing number of poker machines in Victoria.
“The Bridge Inn Hotel’s current application is the fourth it has submitted since 2007,” Mr Ahmet said.
“This is wasting ratepayers’ money on top of draining the wallets of Whittlesea residents who lose money on poker machines.”
The Whittlesea Interagency Taskforce on Gambling is calling on gaming venues to improve their operations and reduce their dependence on revenue from problem gamblers.
