{"id":19344,"date":"2021-06-23T15:38:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T15:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19344"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:17:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:17:02","slug":"australia-pubs-in-melbourne-demand-payout-due-to-covid-19-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-pubs-in-melbourne-demand-payout-due-to-covid-19-impact","title":{"rendered":"Australia: pubs in Melbourne demand payout due to Covid-19 impact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A group of nine pubs has petitioned for insurers to pay out due to closures and the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- Pubs in the city of Melbourne have signed a petition against their insurers<\/strong>\u00a0urging them to cover losses from the first Covid-19 lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group of pubs is claiming a sum of $26m<\/strong>\u00a0due to the impact of Covid countermeasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Australian, the pubs argue that between June 30, 2019, and June 30, 2020, a policy to cover events like the Covid-19 within 40 kilometres of the premises was provided by the insurance companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Locke<\/strong>, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority chief, said he has 120 Covid-19 business interruption insurance disputes on record, 21 of which have been closed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locke said: \u201cDiscussions have commenced with the ICA and the\u00a0National Insurance Brokers Association<\/strong>\u00a0to streamline claims once the courts\u2019 final decisions have been delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Record player losses in Melbourne<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The city of Brimbank, in western Melbourne, Victoria, recorded\u00a0record player losses<\/a>\u00a0on pokies after operations resumed following Covid-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December set a new record for monthly\u00a0player losses at AU$14.7m, followed by AU$13.8m<\/strong>\u00a0in January, March saw losses of AU$14.6m. February saw a new\u00a0record for daily losses at AU$482,168<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Alliance for Gambling Reform\u00a0<\/strong>has urged the state government to reduce pokie operating hours, noting that Victorian machine venues had the longest opening hours in Australia at\u00a020 hours a day<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of nine pubs has petitioned for insurers to pay out due to closures and the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"A consortium of Melbourne pubs is pursuing a A$26 million claim against their insurers for business interruption losses incurred during COVID-19 lockdowns, with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority overseeing numerous such disputes. Concurrently, post-lockdown reopening of gaming venues in Brimbank, Victoria, has seen record player losses on electronic gaming machines (pokies), prompting calls for reduced operating hours from the Alliance for Gambling Reform.","focusai_entities":"Australian Financial Complaints Authority, ICA, National Insurance Brokers Association, The Australian, Alliance for Gambling Reform, David Locke","focusai_location":"Australia, Melbourne, Brimbank, Victoria","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Insurance Claim Resolution Timeline?","query":"What is the projected timeline for a definitive court ruling on COVID-19 business interruption claims, and what are the potential financial implications for insurers and affected gaming\/hospitality operators?"},{"label":"Pokie Hour Reduction Impact?","query":"How might a reduction in pokie operating hours in Victoria impact the GGR and NGR of land-based gaming operators, and what mitigation strategies are being considered to offset potential revenue declines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,23876],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-social-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19344"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19365,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19344\/revisions\/19365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}