Australian Gaming and Racing Minister Joy Burch has just approved of the initiation of a special task force that is to aid the reduction of Canberra-based clubs’ dependability on financial gains from slot machines.
Burch presided at an official meeting between industry representatives and experts in the gambling field at the ACT Legislative Assembly. She stated that she supported the government’s plan to introduce a quantitative relation between the number of slot machines and that of the population of the Australian Capital Territory.
The task force that is to be established will be ruled by the government as well as Clubs ACT. It is their responsibility to prepare a thorough plan, so as for the clubs to function in possibly the most effective and beneficial manner. What is more, special facilities, such as centers for children and for elderly people, are due to be built.
Jeff House, CEO of Clubs ACT, shared that he was really pleased with the opportunity that the association was given to coordinate its activity with the government for community’s sake. He also stated that the clubs own considerable portions of land all around the ACT and, for instance, the construction of housing estates will diversify their sources of profits, which are now mainly related to various gambling activities.
As early as next year, Ms Burch will propose legislation for the establishment of an upper limit for the number of pokies within the ACT as well as a new scheme for acquiring licenses. At present, there are a total of 4954 slot machines within the Australian Capital Territory. If Ms Burch’s proposition for fifteen pokies per one thousand citizens becomes effective, the current number of gaming devices might be exceeded by 2020. That is, it is believed that the population of the ACT might reach up to 332,000 people within the following six years and this means that there will be as much as 4982 machines within the area.
The proposed legislation also concerns the licenses of the pokies. Simply put, they will be issued every two years and it will be the government’s responsibility to do this. What is more, their release will be closely related to the number of population and whether it is growing or not.
Ms Burch also claimed that she was determined to keep on working for the depletion of the number of poker machines. The government also refused to change its opinion on small hotels and taverns’ requests to be permitted to upgrade their outdated pokies to the latest class C. Ms Bush stated that it was “not-for-profit community” clubs’ prerogative to “hold C licenses and that position will be maintained.”
Brendan Smyth, spokesman of the opposition, shared that they will reflect upon the new legislation. He also stated that clubs should consider all kinds sources of profits, in order to be able to function properly.
