Bowled over on pokies

By Tania Martin
MONBULK Bowling Club is calling for the State Government to amend its proposed legislation on the ownership of gaming machines.
Club chairman Terry McHutchison said that, as it stood, the Government’s proposal would spell the end of the bowling club.
The Legislative Council will this week make a decision on a new law that would see electronic gaming machines (EGMs) outsourced to private enterprise.
Machines would be allocated to the highest bidder in an attempt to break the duopoly of TATTS and Tabcorp.
But Monbulk Bowling Club said if this happened it could lose its machines.
All proceeds from the EGMs are funnelled back into the local groups and are used to maintain the community-owned club.
Mr McHutchison said that over the past nine years, the club had donated more than $200,000 to local sporting and other community organisations.
The new gaming regulations would destroy the bowling club and encourage larger hotels to expand.
“Increased revenue will go into the pockets of private operators rather than to local organisations,” Mr McHutchison said.
He estimated that EGMs could be sold for more than $100,000 each, which was way out of the club’s reach.
This would equate to more than $3 million to buy out the club’s 30 machines.
“In these circumstances we have no prospect of competing with them and staying in business,” Mr McHutchison said.
Shire of Yarra Ranges Chandler Ward councillor Graham Warren said the new measures would do nothing to help problem gambling. All it would do was damage community clubs such as Monbulk.
“All it really does is turn it from a duopoly into a free-for-all. I couldn’t think of a worse outcome,” Cr Warren said.
Cr Warren said although he hated EGMs, at least they were doing something positive for the community in Monbulk.
“In the bowling club’s situation they give a lot of money for local clubs and this is one of the negatives out of this whole process,” he said.
“No one can win from this legislation except a few large corporations.”
Cr Warren said the Government should do something to protect community-based organisations such as the bowling club and RSL branches that operated machines.
But a State Government spokesman said the government was taking action to create a progressive and accountable gambling industry, laying the foundations for a fairer, community-based model for gaming operations where profits would flow more directly to venues.
“The groundbreaking reform of the Victorian gaming industry includes a competitive bidding process for machine licences, and new measures will help protect the clubs sector from commercial exploitation and ensure that only genuine bidders interested in running gaming venues responsibly bid for entitlements,” the spokesman said.
See page 4 for letters on the issue.