EPPING RSL has won approval for an extra five poker machines, which will help fund its $1.6 million redevelopment plans.
The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation approved the machines despite acknowledging the risk to gaming addicts.
It said the risk would be offset by “positive social impacts” for the community from the RSL’s extra revenue.
Epping RSL is in the area of Whittlesea where poker machine numbers were capped at 581. The extra five machines will take the total number of machines to that limit, the commission said in its decision.
Club officials told the commission the extra machines would earn the venue $265,745 a year.
But they expect 60 per cent of that to come from patrons leaving other gaming venues in the Whittlesea area to go to the RSL.
The commission said Epping RSL had a long-standing affiliation with the community and provided a social benefit for veterans and the elderly, while also donating $7000 a year to local organisations.
“Epping RSL is operated by personnel who are in touch with the local community and who show a genuine interest in the members of Epping RSL and the wider community,” it said.
“Where the local population readily has access to a large number of electronic gaming machines, it is unlikely that five more in this venue will materially increase the risk of problem gambling in the area.
“This risk is further mitigated by the (venue’s) adequate responsible service of gaming policies.”
The club said it would spend $1.6million on redeveloping its facilities, including a TAB and sports bar, kitchen renovation, bowling green resurfacing, and bistro and dining area redevelopment.
Jemal Ahmet, chief executive officer of welfare group Whittlesea Community Connections, said that up to one in six people seeking his group’s help were affected by problem gambling.
“It can be the spouse, the parents or the children of problem gamblers who seek emergency relief,” he said.
Commission figures show pokie players in Whittlesea lost
$85 million from July 2011 to April this year.
