Whittlesea council is calling for nationwide mandatory gambling reforms, including a maximum allowable bet on gaming machines of $1 per spin with maximum $120 losses per hour.
The council is also against allowing gaming machine licences in growth areas such as Epping North, South Morang, Mernda and Doreen. The council will bring gambling reforms to the agenda at the next national and state meetings of local governments.
Recommendations from the Australian Productivity Commission’s 2010 gambling report and the 2011 Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform report will be submitted for inclusion in the business papers for the 2014 Australian Local Government Association’s (ALGA) national general assembly and the 2014 Municipal Association of Victoria’s (MAV) state council meeting. The MAV meeting is on May 16.
Whittlesea councillor Sam Alessi said it was important that the council raise the issue of gambling whenever it was given the opportunity to do so.
“We as a council are revamping our policy in relation to gaming, but it needs to be seen as a public health issue,” Cr Alessi said. “I fully support the motions that have been put forward by us to those two organisations.”
The council’s motion, “A Public Health Approach to Gambling,” requests the Commonwealth government “not renege on its decision to implement the modest gambling reforms stipulated in the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013”.
It also asks to minimise and prevent harm from gambling by implementing nationwide mandatory reforms.
The council has called on the federal government to implement the mandatory electronic gaming machine pre-commitment scheme “and not reverse the gains made to date”.
Data from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation reveals that Epping Plaza Hotel raked in more than $21 million for 2012-13, the highest amount of money spent on pokies in the state.
In the municipality, punters have so far lost $63.9 million in the 2013-14 financial year, compared with $93.2 million the previous financial year.
