Some people do not know the meaning of enough, yes, I would put the politicians in that category. They have taken from our education and health systems (to mention just a few) and dumped gambling palaces all over the state particularly in low socio-economic areas.
These people should not be blamed, every Australian loves a bargain, cheap beer, cheap food, shopping spree giveaways and free live entertainment. Most of these people have families to feed or are pensioners struggling to meet the bills and they are enticed by the cheap deals until they decide they might have a flutter with the couple of dollars they have saved on their meal.Go into most clubs and ask why they are there, not many will say to play the pokies. Yet that is what they end up doing.
Wake up Australia, the government dangles the carrot and the donkeys cannot help themselves.What to do with them? I would say take the carrot away.
I have seen it all the bad, the worse and the ugly…Poker machines do more damage than the average person is really prepared to consider… From a small business perspective….
My concern and that of my family in small business is that of the seedy underbelly of the political administration to require the dirty money provided by poker machines in our communities. We have seen the demise of the hotel industry and also that of the community based “club / casino palaces “that have turned their back on lamington drives and sausage sizzles for the more lucrative activities of the “no brainer” poker machines.
I chose as a young university educated and “bar” educated citizen to continue to provide for my parents and family in their retirement by developing and successfully operating a venue that focused on the needs of the community, not the addiction of it. Coles and Woolies never cared for the hotel industry, I always assumed they were “retail” giants. The lure of the pokies has seen them pounce on pubs all over the country. Does not take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
A dinosaur, facing extinction, a pub with a general license that has a strict no gambling policy. I believe it is the responsibility of the elected government to provide a fair trading arena for business. Poker machines afford those businesses who promote and operate them in their businesses & clubs (parading as charities) an unfair advantage in business not dissimilar to a substantial subsidy to their business over other restaurants and businesses in the service industry and retail industry that suffer at the hands of such legislation.
Our business enquired to complement our establishment with the addition of Trivia machines that offer a token amount of winnings (no where near the huge jackpot amounts offered by keno or poker machines) and were told that this form of gambling was illegal as it was an unfair bet as more intelligent people would have an advantage over those in the community who were not afforded comparable education.
This is ludicrous, when the government itself affords an unfair advantage over the providers of food and beverage and similar service industries by offering a subsidy in the form of poker machines. No country can ensure positive growth and commitment from the small business community when this irregularity exists. A trivia machine would provide a positive imput in the community and focus on education and encourage australians to be competitive without a huge financial gain attached.
Poker machine money is and always will be dirty money for the government to ensure the trains run ontime… No amount of money tipped back into charity and communities can pay for families destroyed.
It is time for change and as you might be aware in a current survey of the least popular things in this country, “poker machines” topped the list. Let my own, my families, my customers and my fellow Australians voice be heard. Failure to address this matter will be to the detriment of our fine country.
No need for the government to hit people with an inheritance tax. The most vulnerable are the lonely and old people of our communities. They flutter away their families inheritence and there in starts the vicious cycle for families. The government will get us all sooner or later, this gambling problem touches everyone. Some sooner rather than later.
As a token gesture to the anti gambling lobby group, the government gave lip service to capping poker machines. What they failed to mention was that this created a frenzy of poker machine transfers between venues, all with a duty/tax attached. It also created a frenzy of businesses obtaining the maximum amount of machines allowed.Before this they were pokie free….Examples are The Empire & Story Bridge.When this frenzy ceased , Large Retail Giants (to name a few vultures on the Hotel Industry)purchased and built new hotels… and suprise suprise, all new hotels opened in Queensland that I am aware of have all been allocated poker machines.
So where was the sense in capping pokies… It has not seen a decrease in poker mahines.Was it just a need to stir new license fees . The mind boggles. Wake up Australia or soon they will be at the checkout of the supermarkets as well!
We have about 90-100 machines in our town. I believe they take around $6000-$9000 per week each on average. At best, that is $540000 going out of peoples pockets each week. At worst it could be $900000 per week. Our population? 3500. $154-$257 per week per person (men women and children) goes into these machines.
