Call to fold ’em

By Casey Neill
THE region’s gamblers have lost $62.5 million in just six months on gaming machines, prompting a council call for stronger regulations.
In the City of Knox residents gambled away more than $45 million dollars, while in the Shire of Yarra Ranges more than $17.4 million was lost between July and December last year.
The figures have prompted Ferntree Gully MP Nick Wakeling to press for a cap on poker machines.
Shire of Yarra Ranges deputy mayor Graham Warren says that these losses were unacceptable and is calling on the State Government to tighten regulations.
Cr Warren said the State Government needed to stop lining its pockets with cash from gaming taxes and fix the problem.
“The reality is that the Government needs to wean itself off the tax dollars and get rid of poker machines,” he said.
Cr Warren said Victorians had lost $1.3 billion in the past six months on gaming machines, which was unacceptable.
He said although the Government had spent $132 million last year on tackling problem gambling, it wasn’t enough.
“It’s not working, the problem is just getting worse,” he said.
“The Government needs to introduce regulations on where gaming machines can be installed, and what time they are open.”
Cr Warren said he failed to understand why gaming machines should be available to people at all hours of the day and night.
“Problem gamblers are playing on these machines at 3am and I believe the only way to deal with this problem is not have gaming machine venues open at that time,” he said.
Cr Warren said the council was now making a submission to the State Government to call for regulation changes.
“We would like to have some sort of control over how many gaming machines we have in the shire but at this point we have no say,” he said.
Meanwhile, these latest figures have also prompted Mr Wakeling to renew his calls for electronic gaming machine caps in the area.
“Electronic gaming machines drain money from the community,” he said.
Mr Wakeling said the $45.5 million loss was $833,656 greater than that of the same period in 2006.
“Some families are struggling to pay off their Christmas spending – they don’t need to also bear the burden of gaming machine losses,” he said.
He said the Government has refused to rule out any increase in the number of electronic gaming machines in Knox.
Mr Wakeling said the Brumby Government had previously committed to reducing gaming machine numbers in problem areas in the state while maintaining current gaming machine numbers.
“By refusing to decrease total gaming machine numbers and promising to remove gaming machines from some parts of the state, the Brumby Government is effectively promising to increase gaming machine numbers in some municipalities,” he said.
Knox council mayor Jim Penna said the council approved the development of a planning scheme amendment to include a local planning policy on gaming in the municipality.
He said the policy would ensure that any applications for electronic gaming machines would not have a detrimental effect on the Knox community.
“Knox council recognises the social and economic impacts of problem gambling and is keen to promote responsible behaviour by individuals and operators,” he said.
Cr Penna said the council’s 2005 Responsible Gaming Policy asks the State Government to alter the distribution of poker machines to keep the total number in Knox below the Melbourne metropolitan average.
The Mail contacted the State Government for comment on the issue but did not receive a response before going to print.