$18m lost on pokies for the month of April

The Tasmanian Greens today said that an excess of $18 million had been lost on poker machines over the month of April alone, and reiterated their call for Labor to revisit the decision to knock back a Federal proposal to trial in Tasmania pokie reforms and pre-commitment technology due to industry pressure.

Greens Gaming spokesperson Kim Booth MP said that recent Treasury figures reveal that there has been an increase in losses of almost $1 million from the $17, 969 431 lost in March, which is a disturbing trend in the wrong direction as Tasmanians brace themselves for doing hard while facing the Budget challenges ahead.

“Tasmanians lost over $53 million on pokies in the first quarter of this year, and now with a further $18, 829 598 million lost over April, we require decisive action to address the capacity of these machines to gobble up people’s hard-earned cash,” Mr Booth said.

“Pokies are specifically designed to ensnare and capture vulnerable Tasmanians who are specifically marketed to by deliberately crafted sounds and colours under the false pre-tense of becoming rich, and this is what the proposed Federal trial could have started to address.”

“The money being fed into these greedy machines is then not available to be spent on areas where it should be, including helping to heat homes as we head into winter, putting food on tables, putting children through school or keeping small businesses alive.”

“Greens Minister for Human Services is working hard on gaming harm minimisation strategies but the State should be and could be doing more to tackle the impact of these machines head-on, and the vested interests of the industry.”

“At this rate, Tasmanians are right on track to lose well over $200 million again this year. This damaging pattern keeps occurring, but Labor keeps putting its head in the sand and not only refuses to take action itself but has also squibbed a Federal government trial offer, which could have provided real data to break through industry hype,” 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