Calls for an overhaul over Community benefit scheme that allow clubs to take out more gambling earnings

ABC NEWS (Australia)

It was designed as a way to redistribute gambling losses and mitigate harm from poker machines. But the Northern Territory's Community Benefit Scheme has been described as a whitewashing exercise which allows some clubs to take out more than their affiliates put in. Now there are calls for an overhaul of the scheme.

Transcript

00:00Two of Darwin's fiercest cricket rivals are in a contest between bat and ball.

00:08But off the pitch, it's not such a level playing field.

00:12Tracy Village, which has a popular affiliated suburban club,

00:16brings in millions from its poker machines each year.

00:19Waratah depends on a slice of that revenue through a community benefit fund

00:23that's designed to minimise gambling harm and redistribute the losses.

00:28You've got to remember, part of this fund was for amelioration of people who have got problems with gambling.

00:35So they really need to make sure that that side of it has been looked at as well.

00:40The voluntary scheme has some clubs contribute nothing,

00:43while others pay in just a fraction of millions in revenue.

00:46Last financial year, Tracy Village Social and Sports Club raked in more than $3 million from its gaming machines alone.

00:5344,000 of that went to the community benefit fund, just 1.4% of its total takings.

01:00That same year, Tracy Village Cricket Club won a $200,000 grant from the same fund.

01:06Waratah, which doesn't have pokies, got less than $15,000.

01:10Other clubs got nothing.

01:12Gambling researcher Charles Livingston says the scheme is a whitewashing exercise.

01:17It's an alibi to provide the cover for pokie venues that somehow they're contributing to the community,

01:24when in fact they are imposing considerable harm on the community.

01:29Retired politician Gerry Wood is a patron of the Southern District's Cricket Club in Darwin's outskirts.

01:35It received almost $180,000 in grants under the fund last year.

01:40He wants the scheme reviewed so it's fair for all.

01:43Just because you're not affiliated with a club, and you don't have pokies yourself anyway,

01:48should that mean that you have less of a chance of getting some of that revenue from those clubs?

01:53And I think that would be the question that needs to be answered.

01:56Darwin resident Doug knows first hand the harm of gaming machines.

02:00Over a two decade long addiction, he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

02:05Each time I'd go and lose all my money, I'd feel absolutely gutted and terrible and in disbelief that it had happened again.

02:15You know, and I hadn't been able to do it. And there's no sort of escape from that.

02:21He says that if clubs really want to help the community, they should find a way to do it without pokies.

02:27Any money, sort of, that comes from gambling can't repay the way it was earned.

02:35You know, it's value, it's already done a lot of damage.

02:39There's already been that flow on impact for family, friends, employers, individuals along the way.

02:45Gerry Wood wants the government to consider imposing a flat levy,

02:49something the minister says could have unintended consequences.

02:53Poker machines are probably the worst form of gambling you've got because you are going to lose with a poker machine.

02:59You might be clever enough with the GGs, but I can tell you now, you won't win in the long run with poker machines.

03:05A win-fall for some, with huge costs for others.

03:10Jason Walls, ABC News.

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