By Brendan Rees
Punters in the City of Casey have fed hundreds of millions of dollars into pokies – prompting a leading anti-gambling campaigner to say the “blight” needed to be fixed.
The latest figures from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation revealed City of Casey ranked second worst council for gambling losses, behind Brimbank.
Players forked out a staggering $131 million with 913 gaming machines at 13 venues between July 1 last year and June 30.
The report also showed gamblers poured $18.94 million into pokies at the Berwick Springs Hotel, $3 million at the Cranbourne RSL, $9 million at the Berwick Inn Taverner, $12 million at the Hampton Park Tavern and $7 miilion at the Amstel Golf Club in Cranbourne.
Casey acting city planning manager Kathryn Seirlis said council’s preferred position was for no further growth with the number of existing or already approved Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) within the city.
“Council is naturally concerned about gambling losses being experienced by Casey residents,” she said.
She said council wanted the State Government to extend a cap that limits the number of EGMs across the municipality.
“A city-wide cap would provide certainty to the remaining parts of Casey to keep the EGM density consistent across the municipality.
“Council is committed to minimising risk and harm from problem gambling,” Ms Seirlis said.
“It is significant to note that Council was recently successful in opposing an application by the Lynbrook Hotel, which is in the capped area, for an additional 25 EGMs.”
City of Casey Deputy Mayor Amanda Stapledon said: “While we can’t prescribe how people live we have a responsibility to minimise harm.”
“I realise how much damage this causes families and communities. I think Casey is really strong in this area, we’ve got to have more support from authorities,” she said.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform director and spokesman Tim Costello said Casey councillors needed “to get serious” with tackling the issue of problem gambling.
“It is disappointing that City of Casey hasn’t joined with 19 other Victorian councils and become a financial member of The Alliance for Gambling Reform for 2018-19 given that their community suffers the second highest losses of any council,” he said.
Mr Costello suggested councillors could do something pro-active during the upcoming inaugural Gambling Harm Awareness week in October.
Cranbourne Information and Support Services executive officer Leanne Petrides said more efforts needed to be made with promoting counselling for people who wish to stop gambling.
“We know that it is far more likely that their money will be lost, and they and their families become victims of gambling related harm,” she said.
“People find it very hard to talk about gambling addiction – they are extremely embarrassed.”
