ACT government to introduce pokies legislation
The Australian government is set to introduce a legislation that would end the monopoly of Canberra’s clubs and allow 200 machines in the local casino.
Australia.- The office of Chief Minister Andrew Barr confirmed that a legislation to allow 200 poker machines in the Aquis Canberra casino will be introduced this week. The changes would end a long-held monopoly that only allowed Canberra’s clubs to offer poker machines.
Despite the confirmation, no details have been given regarding the proposed legislation. The restrictions that will forced on pokies located inside the casino are still unclear. The Greens said that the measure will count with their support only if the spins are limited to $1, instead of the $10 allowed in clubs, Canberra Times reported.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government was considering ideas on how to reduce the numbers of poker machines in the territory. The proposed changes would force clubs to hand hack one in five machines over a three year period. Canberra would reduce the number of pokies from 4985 to 4000 by July 2020. A discussion paper that was released last week suggested that clubs could be forced to hand back a number of machines each year: it could be either approximately 320 per year or 230 in 2018, 350 in 2019 and 410 in 2020.
The proposal to allow 200 machines in the Aquis Canberra would also force gamblers to decide upfront how much they will gamble. Despite the attempts at reducing the number of pokies in clubs, the government passed a legislation yesterday that cuts 50 percent the taxes that seven clubs pay for the machines. The government claims that the move is set to help clubs expand their activities outside gambling.
Last month, Club ACT asked the ACT government to fund an independent officer to tackle the problem within its venues. The group called for territory-wide exclusion for problem gamblers, in a five-point plan to work on problem gambling. The GGR tax was raised from 0.6 per cent to 0.75 percent on July 1 and the ACT government explained the additional funds will go into helping problem gamblers.
