The city of Whittlesea is one of 14 councils calling on the state government for more stringent gaming machine laws.
Whittlesea mayor Mary Lalios attended a councils’ gambling roundtable this month to discuss how to stop the spread of gaming machine licences in some of Melbourne’s most vulnerable communities.
Monash mayor Geoff Lake, who convened the meeting, said his council felt compelled to act following an application from a Clayton hotel to increase its number of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) by 25 per cent.
Despite statistics showing that Clayton has a high density of poker machines per adult, the hotel’s application was approved by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation and again, following the council’s appeal, by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The group of 14 councils passed a motion seeking tighter caps on poker-machine licences in underprivileged areas. The group also called for an overhaul of the way “net benefit/net detriment” is determined when an application is considered.
The impact of gambling is a key issue identified in the Whittlesea council plan.
Cr Lalios said the meeting provided a good opportunity for councils to join forces and urge the state government to do something about the “massive losses communities sustain because of poker machines”.
“We’ve only got caps in the southern part of the municipality, not the northern part,” she said.
“The growth area doesn’t have any caps. We need a cap for the whole municipality.”
Late last year, Hume council adopted a responsible gaming policy, which seeks to minimise and prevent harm caused by problem gaming.
