Greens Alderman Helen Burnet says Federal Hotels spokesman Daniel Hanna is crying foul because of increased pokies harm minimisation measures introduced on March 1. She asks: “What about the other pubs, clubs, restaurants and entertainment venues which are currently denied a slice of the local spend? So much of money is blown on any of the 737 pokies at the casino, or 149 machines at the 6 other pokies venues in the HCC area”.
It appears that there are too many compromises with the proposed ACT pre-commitment trial. How is it likely to even get off the ground if Labor clubs profit from pokies?
In the meantime, Tasmanians are continuing to spend big on pokies – a total of $212.5m last year. $175K per day is lost just in the Hobart municipality, sucking money out of the local economy, out of local shops, depriving some households their income, and instead causing crimes to feed the habits of those with pokies addiction.
Saturday’s Mercury ran an article on the losses Federal is likely to suffer because of increased harm minimisation measures introduced on March 1
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/03/02/305475_todays-news.html
Federal’s spokesman Daniel Hanna is crying foul of some of these changes. But what about the other pubs, clubs, restaurants and entertainment venues which are currently denied a slice of the local spend? So much of money is blown on any of the 737 pokies at the casino, or 149 machines at the 6 other pokies venues in the HCC area.
It seems that any impact on profit from pokies is described as bad for the economy – I would argue that reducing the ill-effects of pokies before the event would provide a much greater benefit to the local community and the local economy.
Why did Lara Giddings walk away from a trial in Tasmania? I think we should trial $1 bet limits in this state, in the hope of making it work. The Hobart area seems a perfect place to start.
