Media release – Peter Gutwein, Premier & Michael Ferguson, Minister for Finance, 7 July 2021

Future Gaming policy to generate more money for essential services

The Tasmanian Liberal Government’s Future Gaming policy will mean more money for essential services such as health and education, certainty and security for jobs in pubs and clubs, more support for problem gamblers and whilst the Federal Group has been a good corporate citizen and managed their responsibilities well, it will bring an end to the Federal Group’s monopoly over gaming in Tasmania.

As we promised at the 2018 State Election, the amendments to the Gaming Control Act released today for public consultation will give control of Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) to individual Tasmanian pubs and clubs.

This will mean these venues will be able to offer certainty and security to their employees, and have more money to reinvest in their venues.

There will also be more funds received through the Community Support Levy, so that more can be invested in harm minimisation, with the levy also being extended to casinos for the first time meaning that an additional $3 million will be available to address problem gambling and support Tasmanian communities.

The proposed amendments released today include;

  • Ending the Federal Group’s monopoly over gaming in Tasmania;
  • Giving control of Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) to individual pubs and clubs;
  • Reducing the cap on EGMs in Tasmania by 150;
  • Providing more support for problem gamblers by increasing the Community Support Levy;
  • Introducing a separate licence for Statewide Keno; and
  • Providing for two licences to be available for high-roller non-resident casinos, one each in Hobart and Launceston.

The Government has used licence fees and tax rates for Far North Queensland casinos as a benchmark in developing the Future Gaming Market rates and further information on rates and impact on share of revenue can be found HERE.

The new arrangements which will take effect from 1 July 2023, will return more revenue to the State, more to the community, more to pubs and clubs, and less to the Federal Group, meaning we are delivering what we said we would.

The new rates will deliver a sustainable gaming industry with a more equitable return to operators, the Government and the community, and provide increased funding for harm minimisation and gambling support.

Following the five week consultation period, the legislation will be brought before the Parliament later this year.

Media release – Kristie Johnston, independent Member for Clark, July 7, 2021

Government Bidding For Gambling Lobby

The Tasmanian Liberal Government is doing the gambling lobby’s bidding with the new tax and licence deal on poker machines.

Federal Group get their tax rate cut in half. Every pub gets a windfall increase in value for every pokies licence received, and no harm minimisation measures such as $1 maximum bets.

The end result is that the Tasmanian taxpayer gets it in the neck again.

Transcript of media conference with Andrew Wilkie, independent MHR for Clark, Parliament Lawns, Hobart, 7 June 2021.

Andrew Wilkie

Well, the state government is spinning like a top right now, they’re doing their best to assure the community that the new poker machine tax rates will be a significant benefit to the community, when the reality is quite the opposite. This is a bad deal for the community in Tasmania, but a thumping big payday for the poker machine industry that back the government at the 2018 election. So let’s pick this apart, for a start the casinos. The poker machine tax rate on the machines in the casinos is going to be cut sharply. And that is a huge windfall on each and every machine for the Federal Group. Make no mistake about that. This isn’t about the gross amount of tax coming out of the casino, this is about the amount of tax on each and every machine, they were already a cash cow for the Federal Group, they are now even more of a cash cow for the Federal Group. As far as pubs go, yes, the tax rate is being increased markedly. But let’s wrap some context around it. Because every pub is going to get its own individual poker machine license, at the point in time that that happens, the value of every pub, the value of every business in every pub, is going to skyrocket. So the net effect is again, a payday for all of the pubs and clubs.

This is not a good deal for Tasmania, and the government is being downright dishonest to say this is going to lead to a lot more money for hospitals, schools. What it’s going to do is be a big fat paycheck for the poker machine industry that has backed this government to the hilt. And what a great investment it was. For whatever millions of dollars the industry paid to keep the little to get the liberals or the people who seem so sad that again, this is a big fat paycheck for the poker machine industry. And sure they spent millions of dollars backing the Liberals in 2018. But the net effect of today’s announcement, particularly when you wrap it in context, is going to be a fabulous return on investment, an eye-watering return on investment. What a great day. What a great jackpot for the industry.

Journalist – Loretta Lohberger

[inaudible] Federals. What’s your response to that?

Andrew Wilkie

I think the state government needs to be more honest with the community. Federal has no inherent right to anything. The fact that they were paying a certain amount of tax before is irrelevant to the amount of tax they’re paying now. The only question is, are they paying enough? And no, they won’t be they won’t be paying enough. This is effectively going to turn each and every poker machine into even more of a cash cow than they were before. I make this point very clearly, I hope. I want to certainly want to emphasize it that federal has no inherent right to anything. So it is completely irrelevant how much tax they were paying before. The only issue is, are they going to be paying a fair amount now? And the answer is not.

Journalist – Loretta Lohberger

And what about in terms of the impact on people who are gambling on poker machines? What sort of impact is this policy…is going to have any impact or make things worse?

Andrew Wilkie

Look, we will continue to have poker machines in this state for the foreseeable future. Because this package of reforms does that. It ensures we are stuck with pokie machines at about the same level for decades to come, and that is a bad thing in itself. What is also bad for the community is that the government has been quite forthright in saying that the package of reforms will not include enhanced harm minimization measures. There’s no talk of $1 bets. There’s no talk of slowing the so called games up. There’s no talk of tougher penalties for poker machine venues that break the law. There’s no talk of getting rid of addictive features like false wins. The only announcement today is that the casinos will pay less tax. And that yes while the pubs will pay a bit more tax, at the same time the value of their business is going through the roof because they’re going to get their own poker machine license.

Tasmanian Times

The recent Social and Economic Impact Study of gambling in Tasmania suggested that deducting the costs, you know the social costs, from the benefits implies there’s a net benefit from gambling in Tasmania, but it didn’t have separate figures for electronic gaming machines, they were figures across the whole industry. Do you think that should have actually analyzed specifically electronic gaming games?

Andrew Wilkie

Look, the report was helpful as far as it went through the report was helpful as far as it went. But it obviously did not go far enough. And I would again, pull up the government, when the government says there’s a net effect to the state from poker machines, they are cherry-picking one end of the range of outcomes from the report. The report made it very, very clear that the range of possibilities for Tasmania was everything from a significant net loss to the state through to a net positive for the state. So let’s be honest about this. And when you roll in all of the social costs, and all of the costs that have been transferred to the non-government sector, if they can go back to the very first social and economic impact study into gambling in Tasmania, where they found that the cost to the community when you gross it all up in an honest way, the cost of the community is two to three times the revenue from the poker machines. You know, that is a much more honest figure.

Journalist – Loretta Lohberger

Will breaking the monopoly have any real impact on [inaudible]?

Andrew Wilkie

Well, I’ve long advocated for breaking the monopoly. And I still think that that is inherently a good thing. But it comes with its own problems. For a start, the best pubs in the country are actually owned by Federal Group. So federal will continue to operate a lot more poker machines than what is just in the casinos. And regrettably, most of the poker machines in the pubs are owned by a relatively small number of owners, including Wooworths through its company ALH. So in some ways, it will now be even more challenging for a future government to deal with a number of pokies barons rather than one pokies baron, so it has come with its own problems.

Tasmanian Times

Apart from the tax rates, which have been announced today, there is still the issue around transparency and the way in which deals like this are negotiated. What still needs to be done in Tasmania to fix those issues?

Andrew Wilkie

Clearly, there is still a pressing need for broader reform in the state and in particular political donation reform. We still do not know all of the poker machine interests that bankrolled the 2018 election, which makes it harder to analyze exactly who’s been paid off with this with these tax changes today. You know, the government kept the tax rates secret during the recent state election. It still hasn’t progressed political donation reform. Clearly we have a real problem with transparency in this state. And no wonder the community says you know, or asks ‘what have they got to hide?’ If there’s nothing untoward to see with political donations, why don’t they reveal all the donations? What have they got to hide?