Coroner & Legal
Queries on pokies levy …
SALLY GLAETZER | October 15, 2012 12.01am
A HOBART City Council investigation into poker machines has raised concerns that not enough problem gamblers are getting their share of the industry-funded Community Support Levy.
Councillors, including Lord Mayor Damon Thomas, have called for more transparency over how the multi-million-dollar levy, designed to offset the harm caused by problem gambling, is being spent.
They have also questioned why 25 per cent of the money goes to sporting clubs for projects including new buildings, tractors and turf and why the Federal Group’s Wrest Point Casino and Country Club are exempt from paying the tax.
As welfare groups make a desperate plea for more funds to tackle the gambling-induced poverty cycle affecting many Tasmanian families, there is also pressure on the State Government to explain why a large proportion of the levy remains unspent each year.
A council investigation into the pokies industry was launched by Greens councillors this year and, although work on the study has since stopped, the information gathered has raised a few eyebrows among some non-Green councillors.
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