Extract from ABC News
For Deborah (not her real name), the past seven years have been a constant battle to try to stay away from the pokies.
Her addiction caused family breakdowns and came at the cost of relationships and $50,000.
"It's crippling," she said.
"Sometimes it's all you ever think about, and it's day by day, you have to fight the urge to gamble."
Despite living hundreds of kilometres from a casino, Deborah's surrounding NSW–Victoria border region is saturated with poker machines.
Data from the NSW Office of Liquor and Gaming shows the area on the NSW side has some of the highest numbers of poker machines per capita in the state.
The Murray River Local Government Area (LGA), which includes the town of Moama, hosts 998 poker machines in a population of 13,000.
Poker-machine density in the border region is higher than Sydney's pokie hotspots, like Canterbury-Bankstown, which has one machine for every 78 residents, and Fairfield, where it's one for every 54.
"It's a staggering figure, isn't it? You have a poker machine for every 13 people in that area," said Stu Cameron from Wesley Mission, which operates gambling counselling services.
"That's become a casino area, a mini casino area," Reverend Cameron said.
In the nearby Federation Shire, there is one machine for every 17 people.
And further east in Deborah's town of Albury, there is one for every 53 people.
Deborah has lived in the area all her life and said the proliferation of machines had made her addiction harder to manage.
"It's so accessible," she said.
"It just makes it tough because you can't escape it."
History 'still playing out today'
New South Wales was the first state to legalise poker machines in 1956 and for decades people were taken in their busloads from surrounding states to play.
Victoria legalised poker machines in 1991, partly to stop their citizens travelling to gamble.
But 32 years on, the clubs over the river are still growing.
"Over decades, a whole industry developed, clubs got richer, became more elaborate, became better at luring punters to come and to stay," Reverend Cameron said.
"The fact that there was such a significant advantage given to New South Wales towns and regions in establishing this industry is still playing out today."
Changes on the table
Poker-machine changes became a contested topic for the upcoming NSW election when the Coalition government put forward a proposal including the introduction of a mandatory cashless gaming card by 2028, and a statewide self-exclusion register.
The Labor opposition has committed to a 12-month trial of cashless gaming if it wins, and a ban on political parties accepting financial donations from clubs that have gaming machines.
Helen Dalton is the Independent Member for Murray, whose electorate encompasses much of the border region, including Moama and Deniliquin, but not Albury.
Despite the large number of clubs and machines in her electorate, she has come out as a strong supporter of the government's plan.
"We have gambling addicts here, and of course there are no support services," she said.
"So they're often in financial difficulty, they lose their jobs, often they lose their homes, their marriages, their family."
Ms Dalton's stance on reform has drawn the ire of some clubs in her electorate.
"They have put a poster of me in most clubs that are participating in the electorate of Murray saying that I'm not doing the right thing, that I'm stepping outside of what I should be doing," she said.
ClubsNSW said a "brief campaign" by clubs in Murray was sparked by the "frustration felt … about [Ms Dalton's] refusal to engage with them" and not her position on cashless gaming.
Alicia Bruton from Anglicare Victoria works with clients dealing with gambling issues in the border region.
She said the introduction of reforms north of the border could mean people were less motivated to travel to places like Moama to spend their money on the pokies.
"So if you're trying to hide your gambling from a partner, if you share a bank account, it's much easier to gamble with cash," Ms Bruton said.
"It will be very interesting to see how that plays out down the track, whether we then see an influx of people from New South Wales coming into the Victorian venues."
Reverend Cameron thinks the reforms on the table in NSW could impact on the situation on the border.
"We hope and expect that if we have this reform rollout in New South Wales, the pressure on the Victorian government and on the Queensland government will be similar," he said.
A 'great asset'
Poker machines in the Murray River LGA clubs turned over $55 million in profits and a combined $74 million in the Albury and Greater Hume LGAs.
The number of machines on the NSW side of the Murray is far greater than on the Victorian side.
Echuca in Victoria is a twin city of Moama, with a greater population.
Its LGA of Campaspe Shire has only 221 machines or one for every 175 people.
Albury's twin city of Wodonga has 150 machines, compared with Albury's 1,049.
ClubsNSW said many members of its venues in the region still travelled over the border to attend.
"The combined population of the Murray and Albury LGAs is 69,000 [including minors]," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"However, there are over 112,000 club members, indicating that many local Victorians are members of clubs located on the NSW side of the border.
"ClubsNSW looks forward to working constructively with whomever forms government after the election on sensible, evidence-based reform measures."
Clubs are required to contribute part of their revenue back to community organisations.
The biggest club in the Murray River LGA, the Moama Bowling Club, uses revenue from its 306 poker machines to sponsor a range of community organisations including the local football and netball club.
"They are our number-one sponsor, and they're a great asset to the … club and the wider community," Moama Football Netball Club president Matt Lake said.
Mr Lake is concerned about the potential for poker-machine changes after the election to reduce sponsorship money coming to the club.
"It would definitely make things a lot harder," he said.
Local Government Area | EGMS (electronic gaming machines) | Population | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
Murray River | 998 | 12,850 | 12.9 |
Balranald | 162 | 2,208 | 13.6 |
Federation | 746 | 12,899 | 17.3 |
Berrigan | 310 | 8,665 | 28.0 |
Walgett | 177 | 5,253 | 29.7 |
Hay | 76 | 2,882 | 37.9 |
Eurobodalla | 794 | 40,593 | 51.1 |
Albury | 1,049 | 56,093 | 53.5 |
Cobar | 76 | 4,059 | 53.4 |
Tweed | 1,810 | 97,392 | 54 |
Fairfield | 3,831 | 208,475 | 54.4 |
Narrandera | 102 | 5,698 | 55.9 |
Bland | 95 | 5,547 | 58.4 |
Griffith | 461 | 27,086 | 58.8 |
Sydney | 3,578 | 211,632 | 59.1 |
Moree Plains | 213 | 12,751 | 59.9 |
Source: NSW Office of Liquor and Gaming | |||
No comments:
Post a Comment