$180 million lost on pokies over 10 months

The Tasmanian Greens today said that the latest pokies figures reveal that losses has climbed by over $500,000 for the month of October, taking the annual loss figure for 2010 so far to almost a whopping $180 million.

Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said that the October loss amount of $ 18, 683, 711 is an increase of $576,720 on September’s loss figure of $18, 106, 991, taking the total amount lost by Tasmanians on pokies over the last ten months to $179, 217, 549.

Mr Booth also said that the increase in venues with poker machines, 104 up from 102, is also a statistic heading in the wrong direction.

“In ten months alone, Tasmanians have lost just shy of a gob-smacking $180 million on pokie machines, with the monthly trends spiking from September to October,” Mr Booth said.

“$180 million could heat many homes, feed many hungry school kids, and keep many small businesses ticking over.”

“Sadly Tasmania looks set on the dubious track to yet again lose $200 million to the clutches of these one-armed bandits. Sadly Labor continues to refuse to take swift and meaningful action to protect our problem gamblers or to break its own addiction to pokies revenue.”

“As Tasmanians’ losses nudge towards $19 million per month, and almost $180 million over ten months, the Greens argument for an immediate $1 bet limit as one measure to protect the vulnerable in our community becomes all the more compelling,” Mr Booth said.

Reference: Electronic Gaming Machine Expenditure by Rolling Year, Department of Treasury and Finance: http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/domino/dtf/dtf.nsf/alls-v/CD36BFC11D136484CA2575E10006E703