The poker machine debate

If we are going to have a serious debate about poker machines let's open the issue right up and not be conveniently selective in addressing the community impact from this very popular form of gambling.

It seems to me that there are some very fundamental issues missing from the debate which must be included if it is to have any purpose.

At the moment the debate is squarely focussed on the issue of problem gambling and how governments, or more to the point the Gillard federal Government, can legislate to save addicted gamblers from themselves by pre-committing how much they will bet in a stipulated period. This is being driven by independents, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania and South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, in the fuzzy and confusing world of a minority Labor Government.

This is a bit like mandating that smokers can only buy one packet of cigarettes a day or limiting drinkers to one bottle of wine or a couple of bottles of beer. It puts the casual participant into the same classification as the addict. While the advocates of this strategy take comfort from the high moral ground it is a costly policy which would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to enforce.

And more importantly it misses the point and that is the link between poker machine gambling and anti-social behaviour.

NSW, the most populous state, was the original home of poker machine gambling with this activity confined to clubs which use some of the profits from this to subsidise facilities for their members and support local community causes.

With southerners flocking over the border to support this gambling opportunity Victorian Labor Premier, Joan Kirner, attempted to stem the flow and boost her own state's floundering economy by legalising poker machines in 1992. By the time she lost office later that year there were 10,000 poker machines in Victoria. And by the time her successor, Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett, capped poker machine numbers in 1999 there were 30,000 machines in Crown Casino and in pubs and clubs across the state feeding a multi-billion dollar gambling habit.

Meanwhile the powerful NSW hotels lobby successfully pressured the state government to allow its members to offer poker machine gambling something which coincided with what amounted to around the clock pub trading hours.

In 2004 both Kirner and Kennett (who by then was also out of office) agreed that there should have only been casino licences for poker machines. But the cat was well and truly out of the bag by then.

And in NSW the massive revenue stream flowing into state treasury coffers from virtually uninterrupted pub poker machine gambling is a major deterrent to turn back the clock.

What needs to be addressed here is the link between gambling, extended pub bar trading and a dramatic rise in serious anti-social behaviour. And this appears to be glaringly absent from the current debate on the price of poker machine gambling.

Except for a token closure period over a 24 hour cycle, in NSW for example, the fact is that while pub bars are trading so are the poker machine rooms which conservatively account for around 40 per cent of hotel revenues. No wonder they fiercely opposed suggestions that pubs should close at 3 am!

Soon after Labor came to power in 2007 then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, expressed serious concern at the high level of binge drinking among young people in Australia. His response was to introduce the so called alcopop tax - a revenue raiser designed to discourage young people from drinking soft drink based liquor by making it more expensive.

But the really dangerous cocktail was a mixture of poker machines, virtually unlimited pub trading hours, a state government dependence on gambling taxes and an enormously powerful pub lobby particularly in NSW.

The poker machine gamblers may well not be the heavy drinkers. But the opportunity to feed their habit at all hours of the night is providing the circumstances for binge drinking by others leading to anti-social behaviour and a consequent decline in respect for the police who are charged with trying to maintain law and order. There is a financial as well as a social cost to the community here.

There's no doubt that the states (and not just those with Liberal premiers) will fight any moves from Canberra to interfere with their poker machine gambling laws. But hotel trading hours are another matter and sooner or later they are going to have to connect the dots between open ended bar trading and gambling.

The most recently elected Liberal Premier, Barry O'Farrell in NSW, has a mandate more than big enough to allow him to stand up to the pub lobby and overhaul trading hours in the interests of community wellbeing even if this means a reduction in government gambling revenue.