CROWN PUSHES FOR NEW POKIES LIMITS TO APPLY IN VIC PUBS AND CLUBS
Crown chief executive Steve McCann said on Thursday it was “very unclear” how the new mandatory pre-commitments scheme would operate, but that it must go beyond just the Southbank casino, setting up a potential brawl between the Andrews government and the powerful pubs and clubs lobby.
“The objective of mandatory pre-commitment is to provide a more responsible gaming environment and also to reduce the risk of money laundering,” Mr McCann said on a media call after handing down the casino operator’s half-year results.
“If that is confined to one destination, clearly that will simply divert that activity elsewhere.”
Mr McCann’s comments came after The Age revealed that the Andrews government would act on a core recommendation from last year’s royal commission into Crown by imposing a mandatory pre-commitment scheme at the casino.
The Andrews government had previously only supported the pre-commitment scheme “in principle” and subject to “analysis and consultation” but has now confirmed it would be implemented through legislation this year.
The Australian Hotels Association, which represents pubs and clubs, pushed back strongly against Crown’s call, saying it was “misleading” to suggest harmful gambling and money laundering money would simply move from Crown to their venues.
“There’s no justification for the Victorian government or for any other state government around Australia to impose Crown-like penalties on venue-based gaming operators,” said AHA Victoria’s chief executive Paddy O’Sullivan.
“We’ve got the checks and balances and responsible gambling operations at our venues to manage irresponsible gambling and help prevent money laundering.
“Crown is subject to a royal commission, not us.”
After hearing horror stories of the harm inflicted on gamblers at Crown’s poker machines, royal commissioner Ray Finkelstein recommended last year that visitors to the casino should be forced to set daily, weekly or monthly time and loss limits when they used the casino’s poker machines.
The scheme should also ban people from gambling on poker machines for more than three hours without a break, more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period, or more than 36 hours in a week, Commissioner Finkelstein said.
Gamblers lost $462 million to Crown Melbourne’s 2628 poker machines in the 2018-19 financial year. But the bulk of Victoria’s gambling losses — another $2.7 billion — was lost in the state’s other 26,300 machines scattered around pubs, clubs and RSLs that year.
Poker-machine reforms have been politically sensitive in Australia for many years. The Gillard government attempted to introduce a similar pre-commitment scheme nationwide but dumped it following a fierce and well-funded campaign against the move by the clubs industry.
The Productivity Commission found in 2010 that problem gamblers account for about 40¢ of every dollar lost in poker machines, suggesting effective measures to reduce gambling harm could significant dent turnover and profitability.
Victoria currently has a voluntary pre-commitment scheme called YourPlay, introduced in 2015 at a cost of $197 million, but the royal commission heard it was ineffective because gamblers can ignore their pre-set limits, or set them as high as $1 million per day.
Crown on Monday agreed to an $8.9 billion takeover offer from US private equity giant Blackstone. If shareholders and state gambling regulators support the deal, ownership of the Melbourne casino could change hands around the middle of the year.
Mr McCann said Blackstone would have to live with whatever new rules were put on Crown’s operations, although he could not say how the proposed limits on poker machines would affect its profitability.
Source: www.smh.com.au/business/companies/crown-pushes-for-new-pokies-limits-to-apply-in-pubs-and-clubs-20220217-p59xdh.html
