UPDATE:
The battle to bring poker machines to South Morang’s Commercial Hotel is heading to the Supreme Court.
The Woolworths-owned Australian Leisure and Hospitality (ALH) Group has lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s decision to rule against an application for 40 gaming machines at the pub.
The appeal comes two months after VCAT’s ruling, which followed earlier refusals by Whittlesea council and the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR).
The Plenty Road pub does not currently have any gaming machines. The application sought to relocate 20 machines from other ALH Whittlesea venues to the Commercial Hotel and also install 20 new machines.
ALH spokesman David Curry said the company had considered its options since the VCAT ruling. “ALH believes we have a strong case to appeal the VCAT decision,” he said.
ALH Group spent 11 days at VCAT in the second half of last year in a bid to have its application approved.
But VCAT senior members Jonathan Smithers and Rachel Naylor ruled the decisions of the commission and council should stand.
In their ruling, they said Whittlesea’s poker machine expenditure, at $679 per adult every year, was higher than the Melbourne average of $575.
Alliance for Gambling Reform campaign organiser Kelvin Thomson said Woolworths had displayed “shameful contempt” for the community by appealing the decision.
“Whittlesea already has more than enough poker machines. In 2016-17, Whittlesea’s 691 poker machines took over $106 million from residents,” he said.
“The community has made it clear that it doesn’t want any more poker machines, both indirectly through council and directly in submissions to the VCGLR and VCAT.
“Woolworths needs to stop treating the people of South Morang and Whittlesea with contempt and respect their strong and clear opposition to the installation of poker machines at the Commercial Hotel.”
