OF the reasons for families struggling to put food on the table, pay the bills and keep a roof over their heads, poker machine addiction is believed to be one of the single biggest causes in the North West.
The Salvation Army at Tamworth told The Leader one in five of the families seeking their assistance each week are believed to be affected by gambling addictions including poker machine abuse.
“We help 25 families a week and I wouldn’t be surprised if 20 per cent of those people are suffering from misuse of money in that form,” Salvation Army captain Mark Everitt said.
“But we don’t grill people for that type of information, we simply remind them there is help available.”
Charitable welfare groups including the Salvation Army and Lifeline cheered the NSW parliament’s decision earlier this month to prevent any further applications for poker machine licenses or the sale of them between pubs.
The North West’s biggest club, Wests, said as important as this form of revenue was, the temporary freeze was unlikely to come at the detriment to any pub or club in the area. Many venues would physically struggle to fit any more in. Poker machines generate more than $9 million in revenue in the Tamworth area, about $100,000 of which is returned to the community. A longer term freeze would pose more of a concern for them and their commitment to deliver member services and donate to community, charity and sporting groups.
For the good they do in the community the freeze was a difficult decision for elected representatives like MLC Trevor Khan, who have to weigh the good they do compared to the impact they have on the community.
For the overall wellbeing of the
community Mr Everitt said the freeze was a good start as the depth of the problem in the North West was concerning.
Mr Everitt said governmenta needed to help break the grip poker machines hold on the nation.
“I’m led to believe Australia has about 10 per cent of the world’s poker machines which is extraordinary considering our small population,” he said.
“Freezing applications can only be a good thing but how they are distributed through pubs and clubs is something that needs to be sorted out.
“I don’t have any statistical information from the Tamworth area specifically but it is a type of gambling that is highly addictive and that can lead to whole pay packets being put through them.”
The addiction and subsequent devastation was equally concerning for Lifeline North West CEO Michael Ticehurst.
“Anybody in the welfare arena would welcome the freeze because it is soul destroying for families. It is a lead in to other problems including domestic violence and alcohol abuse,” he said.
“It is a core issue within the
community.”
The icy “tentacles” of this addiction are felt throughout the community frequently, by loved ones that lose their home, and by business owners that suffer from thefts which fuel the problem.
Mr Ticehurst said the NSW government should not be using poker machines to fund infrastructure like roads and hospitals. Instead he said the money should be put back into programs to help people with their addiction.
“We are talking about people at the end of the poker machine losing their lives and we need programs to help them,” he said.
“There is no long term funding for people with addictive behaviours.”
Mr Khan supported the bill. He said there was a need to help people with their addiction but at the same time the funds raised by poker machines did good in the community.
“There is no doubt that poker machine have a serious impact... however that has to be balanced by the fact that most people don’t have a problem with gambling,” he said.
“The reality is poker machines are a major source of revenue for clubs and hotels. The funds do a lot of good in our communities.”
Asked whether these benefits can be justified when people suffered from addiction to these machines, Mr Khan responded: “Everything in our society involves a system of balances”.
The issue of venues selling their licenses was a matter that Mr Khan said needed particular attention. Until the freeze was applied country hotel leasees were selling the venue owner’s poker machine licenses to Sydney in large numbers. This was leaving pub owners without licenses and country towns with unviable pubs.
“Everyone agreed that something had to be done in that area,” Mr Khan said.
Wests Group CEO Rod Laing went on the record recently as saying its clubs supported 138 organisations.
He told The Leader the freeze would not affect its commitment to these groups.
“It’s not having an impact at the moment but it’s hard to say what impact it might have in the future,” he said.
“The majority of clubs are probably more concerned about the smoking bans.”
The NSW Government is in the process of piecing together a bill which if passed later this year will give pubs and clubs are more concrete set of rules to abide by.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter