The ACT Government has announced a suite of reforms to reduce pokies losses, including a mandatory card-based play with voluntary loss limits. While it doesn’t go as far as it should, it puts the Tasmanian Liberals’ pokies pre-commitment card walkaway to shame.
Mandatory pre-commitment cards, banning ATMs in venues and cutting poker machine numbers over time are key changes being introduced by the ACT Government as part of a suite of reforms. While it could go further, it’s still much better than the Tasmanian Liberal Government’s policies which, according to experts, will make things worse.
While the ACT is taking some action for people struggling with gambling addiction, the Liberals in Tasmania have capitulated to their donors in the pokies lobby. Their new policies have been described by their own statutory Liquor and Gaming Commission as taking “Tasmania backwards”.
We know Tasmanians lose millions to pokies every month, with the latest Treasury data showing over $18 million was lost to pokies in July. The loss these predatory machines cause goes beyond financial, and can lead to health issues, domestic violence and crime.
The Government’s own expert advice calculated the introduction of card-based play with mandatory loss limits, as promised by Premier Rockliff, would genuinely reduce gambling harm, improve the economy by over $230 million per year and create over 200 jobs.
The ACT Labor Government has shown it is possible to take positive steps forward, if only in a limited way. The Liberal Government must follow their lead and go further, and finally stand up to the pokies industry. They have a responsibility to make good on their broken promise and properly address pokies harm with a mandatory loss limits on card-based pokies reform.
