THE “terrible toll” of problem gambling cannot be dealt with unless Church and community groups “match the noises coming from the pro-pokies lobby”, a St Vincent de Paul Society spokesman has warned.
Queensland’s St Vincent de Paul Society vice-president Robert Leach made the comment after representing the Heads of Churches at a recent meeting of the State Government’s Responsible Gambling Advisory Committee (RGAC).
Mr Leach said problem gambling was a “social justice issue and the society had concerns for those who are being exploited deliberately or otherwise because of their vulnerabilities, weaknesses, addictions, financial desperation, mental illnesses”.
“Though only about 15 per cent of pokie players are problem gamblers they ‘contribute’ around 40 per cent or more of total pokie revenue – about $12 billion between 2008 and 2009,” he said.
Also present at last month’s RGAC meeting were representatives from State Government and community groups such as Queensland Council of Social Services and Centacare as well as representatives from the hotel and club industries.
Mr Leach’s comment came soon after Australia’s major Churches met at a national forum in Canberra on March 22 to launch the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce amid calls for urgent action on gambling reform.
Senior representatives from the Uniting, Catholic, Baptist and Anglican churches and The Salvation Army attended along with senior representatives from the Church-based social services peak bodies.
Existing state Church gambling taskforces were also represented.
Uniting Church in Australia’s president and forum chair the Reverend Alistair Macrae called for a national mandatory pre-commitment scheme (the setting of a restriction on gaming machine expenditure to prevent players spending more money than they originally intended – achieved by fixing a maximum limit on losses before the commencement of play).
“A national pre-commitment scheme that is mandatory in all gaming machine venues is one effective consumer protection measure,” he said.
“We support this measure because it focuses regulation on machines and venues and requires gamblers to choose and stick to their own gambling limit.”
The forum has called on all states and territories to sign on to legislation that will ensure all gaming venues have mandatory pre-commitment technology in place by 2014.
The St Vincent de Paul Society’s national council chief executive officer Dr John Falzon said the society accepted the need for a mandatory pre-commitment scheme as also suggested by the Productivity Commission.
“We also accept the position expressed by the commission that gaming machines are the prime source of problem gambling in Australia and that regular gaming machine players are estimated to spend on average around $7000 to $8000 a year,” he said.
“We continue to advocate for a more comprehensive investment in social infrastructure.
“We believe that access for all people to appropriate and secure housing, healthcare, education and training, transport, employment, social support services, sports and recreation, and social connectedness are essential to any genuine attempt to address problem gambling.
“We do not accept that this social problem can be viewed in isolation from the social and economic contexts in which it is found.”
Mr Leach said the St Vincent de Paul Society was not anti-gambling but was about “protecting people who are being exploited for the profit of others”.
“It’s definitely a social justice issue,” he said.
“We intend to keep speaking out about the exploitation of the vulnerable.
“When these people get involved in gambling they spend enormous amounts of money belonging to their families or others.
“Poker machines are definitely a problem – over 65 per cent of all gambling money comes from them.
“Media reports show the public’s love affair with pokies is continuing – in Queensland alone people are spending $3500 every minute.
“But there is strong opposition to doing anything about this.
“We shouldn’t forget either that states receive copious funding through taxes on the pokies so are tempted not to do too much.
“So to sum up with a personal view: unless the noises coming from the pro-pokies lobby are more than matched by their opponents from the Churches and community groups generally, not much will happen.”
State St Vincent de Paul Society social justice committee member and president of the society’s Acacia Ridge/Sunnybank conference Noel Sweeney said the accessibility of poker machines was a major problem.
“People can just walk around the corner to get a nice cheap meal and come in contact with these machines,” he said.
“The facilities in such places are wonderful.
“But those without a gambling problem have no appreciation of the pain people have gone through as they gamble their money which ultimately helps to provide these wonderful facilities.”
Mr Sweeney said problem gamblers would often keep their condition secret.
“Our members often see people supported by the society sitting in front of poker machines in the gaming lounges,” he said.
“We’re forever hearing stories about the impacts of gambling on families.
“Just the other day I heard of a case where a man believed his house was paid off.
“He then discovered his wife, who had a gambling habit, had taken out a mortgage on the house for $100,000.”
Mr Sweeney said in his own locality he was aware of a significant rise in revenue of local poker machines around the time government money was handed out to families claiming to be affected by the recent floods.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has promised to bring in mandatory pre-commitment by 2014.
Clubs and hotels claim they could lose 30 to 50 per cent of revenue if the controls are implemented.
Options to implement the scheme include smartcards to police daily limits in all machines – which could be open to rorting – or a more secure system where each gambler would be set a daily limit and use of a USB memory stick carrying their fingerprint.
The Federal Government has appointed anti-gambling Senator Nick Xenophon and fellow Independent Andrew Wilkie to a parliamentary committee to work out how the regime would be implemented.
