Victorian AGR calls for specific opening hours for gambling machines

The Alliance for Gambling Reform is calling for poker machine venues to be closed between midnight and 10am.

Australia.- The Alliance for Gambling Reform continues to push for stronger laws on gambling machiens. Its new policy paper proposes reduced opening hours for machines, claiming that in some areas customers are able to play on gambling machines 24 hours a day.

The AGR said that while venues in Victoria can currently only open for 20 hours a day, the specific hours are undefined. That means venues can stagger their operating hours, which means some areas have 24-hour access to electronic gaming machines.

Tim Costello, chief advocate for the AGR, said: “Given the enormous harm poker machine losses wreak on our State there is no need for venues to be open into the early hours of the morning. We need to do much more to protect people who are vulnerable, the industry certainly cannot be trusted to act sensibly or compassionately.”

The policy paper states critical actions “must be taken to reduce and prevent gambling harm for the overall health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities.”

It gives the following recommendations:

• Opening hours of gambling rooms that contain Electronic Gambling Machines (EGMs) should be restricted from midnight to 10am across the country.
• The Alliance accepts there needs to be an incremental change to opening hours over time and therefore urges jurisdictions to initially impose a uniform closure with in all venues in the state or territory.
• The Alliance is clear that these incremental changes need to happen as fast as possible, and not be weakened by industry pressure. There needs to be bipartisan support on the issue and it should be written into legislation.
• There should be a commitment from state governments to provide alternative spaces to fill the need for people using EGM venues as a refuge and safe place.

The report stresses that the operating hours of poker machine rooms in Australia need to be significantly reduced to prevent and reduce gambling harm in Australian communities. 

It states: “The Alliance accepts this may need to be incremental change over a number of years, however it should not be watered down by industry as other harm reduction measures have been historically.”

See also: Australia: player losses on Ballarat pokies reach US$3.6m in August