Tasmania pokie operator deflects criticism by attacking online gambling
News on 6 Aug 2017
News on 6 Aug 2017
A Tasmanian government inquiry into the local gaming industry, where club and pub based pokie machines rule supreme, will hear more evidence this week from various interested parties, including the Federal Hotels group, which holds an exclusive deed on poker machine licences that only expires in 2023.
The inquiry is tasked with delivering its report and recommendations by the end of September this year.
If the apparent misinformation delivered at its last hearing in February this year is anything to go by, the resumed hearing should produce some intriguing if unsubstantiated allegations.
Representatives of organisations supporting the operation of pokie machines outside of licensed land casinos appeared to be attempting to deflect criticism of the pokie presence in pubs and clubs by attacking online gambling, claiming that shutting down pokies will push Tasmanian punters to widely available online and mobile gambling offers.
Federal Hotels argued that online gaming is a bigger threat to the Tasmanian community than the placement of poker machines in pubs and clubs, with managing director Greg Farrell quoting from Treasury’s biennial study of the social and economic impacts of gambling to show that seven percent of Tasmanians have played online.
Contrary to international and Australian scientific studies, he alleged that these punters are four times more likely to be problem gamblers, or at-risk of moderate to high-problem gambling, than poker machine players.
He was contradicted by Anglicare Tasmania Social Action and Research Centre manager, Meg Webb, who said that problem online gamblers are a minuscule part of the state’s overall problem gambler contingent, and that there is no evidence to suggest reduced access to poker machines would push problem gamblers online.
“There is no link between these two activities in any research,” she said. “The motivations between these two forms of gambling are different. While participation in online gambling is growing, it only accounts for a small part of problem gambling activity in Tasmania. The clear and present danger is pokies.”
The Salvation Army’s spokesman Brad Wilson told the inquiry that in contrast to poker machine gambling, online gambling had not been identified as a concern by many of his organisation’s clients who sought support.
“It is our understanding that the demographic engaged in online gambling – suggested to be mostly younger, employed men – would be different to unemployed or socially isolated people seeking community and activity through centres such as a gaming venue,” he said.
“Therefore, notwithstanding that all gambling has potential negative financial and social implications, the typical outcomes and most-likely-affected persons would be quite different.”
