Ad shames gamblers:that's a shame for pokie owners

An advertising campaign showing a woman leaving her partner because he is a problem gambler has upset poker machine operators, even though it has caused gamblers to flood a helpline.

The television ads are "flat-out disgraceful", according to Penrith Panthers Leagues Club's general manager, John Wilson.

"[Making a link between] quietly playing the poker machines to having no food on the table is a gross exaggeration and a gross distraction to what is a serious problem out there," Mr Wilson said.

But each poker machine has the capacity of earning $72 thousand dollars a year from a problem gamblers family and their communities a spokesperson for Justice Action Mr Pissed And Broke said.

"What is required is more entertainment, live bands, singing and dancing. Perhaps where the whole family can join in and community groups can meet to have some fun without going home pissed and broke." He said

The TV and radio campaign featured the woman taking her children and leaving her partner after discovering she could not pay for groceries because their credit card had been cancelled. The five-month campaign, which ended in March, also included print advertisements suggesting family and financial distress.

The Gaming Minister, Grant McBride, said more than 6000 people called the Government's G-line counselling service during the campaign - 30 per cent more than the year before.

Some callers, most of whom were gambling on poker machines, said they had only called because the ads had convinced them it was time to act, Mr McBride said. One woman called to find out when the ad would next be aired "because my husband needs to see it".

But industry sources said gaming operators disliked the ad and some blamed it for a loss of revenue during the early part of the campaign. Sources said Star City Casino, which funded the ads through the casino levy, was also upset about them - a claim denied by a casino spokesman. He said it always supported ads promoting counselling.

John Thorpe, re-elected president of the Australian Hotels Association on Tuesday, said the ads had caused controversy because experts believed they were the wrong approach to harm-minimisation.

A gambling psychologist, Alex Blaszczynski, from Sydney University, said the TV ad raised awareness but also stigmatised gamblers.

It seemed to give the message that partners should leave problem gamblers, Professor Blaszczynski said. "[This] doesn't seem to be pretty darn sensible therapeutically."

Mr McBride's spokesman rejected the criticism, saying the ads clearly showed a problem gambler, not "an ordinary punter". Mr McBride said he would also review funding for counselling services to ensure the extra demand could be met.

By Shamed And Broke 10 April 03

THE PUBLICAN: One more dollar for the road? Doesn't matter what happens when they get home does it?

THE COMMUNITY: Good will matters if you want to run any business including a pub and club. If pubs and clubs are serving a community people will have good stories and meet regularly to socialise. What you do is what you get. Get off the table WILSON the monies for the beer.

Related:

Fears for poor if Social Services take a social slide?
About 350 clubs and pubs have applied for permission to install about 2300 extra poker machines in their venues in a process that could see machines move from richer to poorer suburbs.

Club expects more problem punters
The Tigers' plan for a super club with 450 poker machines at the SuperDome could create almost 100 new problem gamblers in the five kilometres around the site, according to the Balmain club's application submitted to licensing authorities.

Fears for poor if Social Services take a social slide?

About 350 clubs and pubs have applied for permission to install about 2300 extra poker machines in their venues in a process that could see machines move from richer to poorer suburbs.

The applications are the first under new rules requiring the applicants to weigh up the adverse social impact against economic benefits of their plans.These social impact assessments reveal information about the gambling spending in the suburbs concerned, for the first time since the Government stopped making the data cheaply available more than two years ago.

The data shows gamblers in poorer council areas, such as Auburn and Burwood, spend up to $1700 per adult per year - or about four times as much on the pokies as those in the richer ones such as Willoughby, Hornsby and Baulkham Hills.

The suburbs with lower average incomes also contain up to four times the number of poker machines per adult resident as those on the North Shore, according to information obtained by the Herald from more than two dozen social impact assessments.

The biggest application comes from the Balmain Tigers Club SuperDome project, which has applied for an extra 450 machines. Others include the Castle Hill RSL, which wants 150 new machines, the Western Suburbs Leagues Club in Leumeah (85) and the Illawarra Catholic Club in Menai (80).

A spokesman for the Gaming Minister, Richard Face, said approval would be "very hard to get".

If approved, the applicant must buy licences to operate the pokies from an existing operator, creating the opportunity for machines to be shifted from less profitable richer suburbs to poorer ones.

In Burwood, operators make an average of $71,755 profit per machine per year - nearly twice the NSW average, and more than double the $31,927 a year per machine in Goulburn.

Licences for pokies in hotels cost between $150,000 and $200,000 after forfeiting one in every three bought under a law designed to reduce the number of machines in operation. Licences for machines in clubs - which make less profit per machine - are understood to cost about $30,000 each.

According to the assessments, the proposals to move the machines would boost gambling spending in the new location and could increase problem gambling.

The director of the NSW Council for Social Service, Alan Kirkland, said it was very difficult to balance the impact of problem gambling against the broader community benefits.

The manager of Wesley Gambling Counselling Services, Rev Chester Carter, said problem gamblers would spend any money they had and pawn anything they could get their hands on.

Sydney City has the highest gambling expenditure per resident, because it is an entertainment centre with relatively few residents. There 28 hotels have applied for a total of 164 additional machines. Overall about 40 clubs and more than 300 hotels have applied to the Liquor Administration Board for extra machines.

Only those applying for more than four machines have to conduct the social impact assessment. Operators wanting to move machines from one venue to another more than one kilometre away also have to conduct such an assessment. The information obtained from these assessments is the latest available, although some date back to 2001.

By Pissed And Broke Jan 28 03

THE GOOSE: Money for Social Services may save more money. Perhaps, a bird in the hand saves two gamblers in the Pub/Club?

Related:

Club expects more problem punters
The Tigers' plan for a super club with 450 poker machines at the SuperDome could create almost 100 new problem gamblers in the five kilometres around the site, according to the Balmain club's application submitted to licensing authorities.

Club expects more problem punters

The Tigers' plan for a super club with 450 poker machines at the SuperDome could create almost 100 new problem gamblers in the five kilometres around the site, according to the Balmain club's application submitted to licensing authorities.

By Roary Lions 28 Jan 03

THE LIONS: Tigers for tea anyone?