Pokies rejected

By Alison Noonan
CASEY council has rejected plans for the installation of pokies at the proposed Lynbrook Hotel.
In a formal submission to the Victorian Commission for Gaming Regulation (VCGR), the council said it was opposed to the inclusion of 80 gaming machines at the South Gippsland Highway hotel.
The proposed development includes a motel, conference centre, bistro, drive-through bottle shop, sports bar, gaming room and TAB.
However, construction is at a standstill as the hotel applicants await a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal review of a council decision to refuse an extension of time for the start of works.
In the recent submission made to the VCGR, the council said the introduction of pokies at the Lynbrook Hotel would exacerbate the “over concentration” of machines in the western part of the city.
The submission stated that Lynbrook was sufficiently served by poker machines currently operating in Cranbourne, Hampton Park and Dandenong.
It said Casey would reach the fifth highest number of machines in the Melbourne Metropolitan zone with the installation of 80 new machines.
The submission said the proposed venue was less than 0.5 kilometres from the already capped area of Greater Dandenong Plus, where the State Government has banned the introduction of additional gaming machines.
“Further, the South Gippsland Highway links with Cranbourne, where there is already a large concentration of machines,” the council submission said.
“It should be noted that council has made a submission to the Regional Electronic Gaming Machine Caps Review Panel which seeks to include the area of Lynbrook/Lyndhurst within an extended capped area.
“The application is not considered consistent with this criterion or council’s submission to the Review.”
The submission said further poker machines at the Lynbrook Hotel could harm at-risk groups.
It said the Jesuit Social Services Indicator of Social Disadvantage ranked Cranbourne and Hampton Park amongst the most disadvantaged of postcodes within Casey.
“Casey supports a harm minimisation approach to gambling where the adverse economic, social and environmental impacts upon the community are reduced and the benefits of gambling to the community are maximised.”
Councillors at the last council meeting for 2005 voted to support the submission, which will now be sent to the VCGR.