AN EPPING social club will spend more than
$5 million on sporting facilities and other initiatives for the community in return for an extra 15 gaming machines.
The Casa D’Abruzzo Club is willing to spend more than $4 million on an all-sports pavilion including basketball and netball courts, a gym and other features. $1.4 million will go to an eight-court tennis facility if it gets the machines.
The club will invest a little less than the $5.4 million lost on its poker machines in the 2010-11 financial year, about 25 per cent higher than average losses at other Victorian clubs.
The Whittlesea council last week decided not to oppose the club’s application to the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.
A council report stated the club had 60 machines and the additional 15 machines would come from other local hotels and would not increase the overall number of pokies in the municipality.
Punters lost almost $100 million on the 621 machines in the municipality’s five hotels and four clubs in 2010-2011, the report said.
The club, which has 3745 members, promised to open its proposed facilities to the community if it received the extra machines, it said. Its proposal included a $65,000 children’s play area, a $50,000 student scholarship to study in Italy, and a $27,000 computer and internet course for older people.
Councillor Sam Alessi said it was “refreshing” the club was prepared to give “so much back to the community” from its profits. Club general manager Marino Urbani declined to comment.
