… HOTEL OPERATORS TRYING FOR MORE POKIES AGAIN

The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, is urging the community to again stand up and be counted as operators apply to install new poker machines in hotels in the northern suburbs.

Mr Wilkie said despite the State Government’s suspension on new licences, a second application has been made to install new poker machines in Glenorchy, a city that already suffers the state’s highest pokies losses.

“Why the sudden rush of applications when the State Government has put things on hold to implement a public interest test,” Mr Wilkie asked. “Is the State Government really serious about protecting the public interest, or has it told hotels behind the scenes that it’s business as usual and their applications will sail through once the fuss dies down?”

The operator of The Moonah Hotel (“The Pot”) has applied to install 20 new machines and the Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission has called for written objections. The application closely follows a bid to put 20 new machines into the Paddy Wagon hotel in Glenorchy.

Mr Wilkie has again written to all households in Glenorchy alerting them to the new application and urged the community to ramp up its fight against poker machines. The next batch of 21,886 letters will be delivered next week, in time for the Monday 28 November deadline for objections with the Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission.

Mr Wilkie ran a similar letter drop in response to the Paddy Wagon application that resulted in a record 180 public submissions.

“Whether or not the Paddy Wagon gets it poker machines remains to be seen, but at least the public furore forced the State Government to get moving on its promise to introduce a public interest test as part of the licensing process,” he said.

Mr Wilkie said the last thing Glenorchy needed was more poker machines

“The Glenorchy community is losing close to $2 million a month on the pokies, almost half of which is gouged from gambling addicts,” Mr Wilkie said. “The social and economic cost of this is enormous.”

Download a copy of letter to Glenorchy residents …

Moonah_pokies_letter_final_2.pdf
Andrew Wilkie, Independent MP for Denison