By Brendan Rees
Covid-19 restrictions have hindered punters from feeding $53 million into Casey’s pokies machines in just four months – which has been described as a “silver lining” by a leading anti-gambling advocate.
It comes as gambling venues have remained shut since 16 March after a State of Emergency was declared in Victoria, resulting in the state just passing $1 billion in savings.
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate, the Rev Tim Costello, said these “extraordinary savings” to the people of Casey in just over four months “demonstrated the blight poker machines are,” both on the local economy and communities.
“It has been awful reading about the lives lost to Covid-19 around Australia, and especially the devastating spikes in Victoria, and my heart goes out to the people affected,” Rev Costello said.
“But we have experienced a silver lining in all this – the shutdown of poker machines has undoubtedly improved lives for many local people in Casey for the better, and perhaps even saved lives.”
Alarmingly, though, the latest figures from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation for the 2019-20 financial year revealed pokies machines swallowed $98.6 million at 913 gaming machines at 13 venues in Casey.
Punters forked out $14,263,668 at Berwick Springs Hotel, the highest losses in Casey, and the Hampton Park Tavern recorded the second highest losses of $10,035,945, according to the data.
Following the Covid-19 restrictions, Rev Costello said he had stories from people about the benefits of pokies being shutdown including one who, for the first time in years, had money in their bank account to buy food for their family.
He said Covid-19 had presented a “unique opportunity to rethink the appalling situation Australia has gotten itself into with the prevalence of gambling”.
“Gambling harm impacts more people than most of us realise. The stigma associated with it often prevents people from speaking up or seeking help, and we must overcome this,” he said.
This was a sentiment echoed by Bad Bets Australia spokesman Rowan Wenn who said he hoped there would be a radical rethink on gambling harm and its effects on public health.
“We have to stop pretending that poker machines are harmless fun and these losses are acceptable,” he said. “Covid is showing that people do care about public health as an issue and if you care about public health how can you avoid the elephant in the room which is the poker machine industry.”
Cranbourne Information and Support Service’s executive officer Leanne Petrides said despite the devastating impact of coronavirus, it was encouraging to know the lockdown had saved Casey punters $50 million in pokies losses.
“What we don’t know however, if any of that saved money has been lost in online gaming and gambling. If that is the case, there will still be many instances of rent going unpaid, and food not being put on the table,” she said.
Tom Cummings of Berwick, an ex-gambling addict and anti-pokies crusader, said the shutdown of pokies machines highlighted how “just how damaging they are” and was an opportunity for people to break their habit.
“It’s no longer an option for them; in many cases it’s that break that gives people a chance to rebuild their lives,” he said.
Casey Council manager of city and asset planning Keri New said gambling was a key issue for Casey as identified in our Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan and our Electronic Gaming Machines Strategy 2015-2020.
“Advocacy is a key focus within our gaming work. We currently do this through a range of avenues including submissions, letters, conversations with local MPs, partnerships with other local government areas, partnerships with local government bodies, and partnerships with local services and community members,” Ms New said.
“Council has a dedicated advocacy and engagement team to support this critical work. In addition, Council has been proactive in reviewing gaming applications, seeking feedback from the community and expert consultants to guide decisions.
“Council is currently reviewing the Electronic Gaming Machine Strategy 2015-2020 to identify our key directions moving forward, including if we need further external support for advocacy. Until this time, Council is happy to become an Alliance for Gambling Reform Supporter and will review over the next 12 months whether this should increase to become a financial member.”
