Anti-gambling advocates urge Victorian state government not to delay pokies reforms

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Victorian Government has been urged to push ahead with its commitment to poker machine reforms, despite push-back from casino lobbyists and the opposition.

Transcript

00:00This move to introduce mandatory card play on all poker machines in Victoria is facing

00:08a bit of a backlash from pubs and clubs as well as the state opposition.

00:13It would require gamblers to use a special card before playing poker machines and also

00:18preset the limit on just how much they'd be prepared to lose as well.

00:24And the opposition says that it doesn't have enough evidence to show that this would really

00:29minimise harm.

00:30It believes that problem gamblers would be among the first to go out and get one of these

00:35cards, but those casual gamblers would likely be turned away and that would really impact

00:43the bottom line and therefore jobs in pubs and clubs, particularly those close to the

00:48border.

00:49Now that's because other states have in the past tried to introduce legislation restricting

00:55poker machines, however these have eventually been watered down due to pressure from the

01:00powerful gaming lobby.

01:03And Crown Casino already has mandatory card play.

01:07That's following a damning Royal Commission finding and it says that it wants to see a

01:12level playing field with these cards introduced across all of the poker machines in Victoria.

01:19The legislation is going to be debated in Parliament this week and if it's passed we'll

01:24see a trial in about 40 venues across the state from the middle of the year and it will

01:29eventually be rolled out across all of the 26,000 poker machines in Victoria by the end

01:36of 2027.

01:38Now anti-gambling advocates say that they're concerned that they've heard news that this

01:44could be put on the back burner by the state government and it's urging the government

01:49to continue to push forward with this reform.

01:53It says that the harm that is caused by poker machines is immense and it creates huge losses.

02:01With losses from poker machine use, a staggering $4 billion for Victoria in the last financial

02:08year alone.

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