By Laura Michell
Gamblers lost more than $600,000 a day at poker machine venues across Whittlesea and Hume in the past financial year, new data reveals.
The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation recently released pokies loss figures for July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, revealing an increase in losses in both municipalities.
The data revealed that $109.5 million was lost at Whittlesea’s poker machine venues in that time, up from $107 million in 2016-17. In Hume, $109.62 million was lost, up from $105 million in the previous 12 months.
The Epping Plaza Hotel was revealed as the state’s top venue for losses, with gamblers parting with $20.8 million in 2017-18.
Whittlesea and Hume are also home to four other venues to make the commission’s list of top 10 venues for player losses, with Mill Park’s Plough Hotel recording the second highest losses ($19.4 million).
The Gladstone Park Hotel recorded the fifth highest losses ($17.6 million), while the Bundoora Taverner was eighth on the list ($17.4 million), and the Roxburgh Park Hotel was 10th ($17 million).
Whittlesea mayor Kris Pavlidis said the municipality was one of the hardest hit by pokies losses.
She said Whittlesea had four venues in the top 10 in the state, all of which trade the maximum 20 hours a day.
“Our community’s losses are up from $107 million to $109.5 million … we want a public health approach to pokies which means big changes to the current regime,” Cr Pavlidis said.
Whittlesea council recently joined a statewide campaign for poker machine reform, with Cr Pavlidis joining the mayors from Moreland, Darebin, Wyndham and Yarra on the steps of Parliament to lobby for change.
The campaign, which is led by the Alliance for Gambling Reform, is calling for no new poker machine approvals, the mandatory shutdown of poker machine venues between 2-8am, and for machines to be limited to $1 maximum bets per spin, have slower spinning rates and remove losses disguised as wins.
