South Australian politician to ban pokies

Anti-gambling activist Nick Xenophon advanced he’ll go right against pokies in case his SA Best party wins seats in the lower house.

Australia.- The South Australian state election is set to affect pokies interests as anti-gambling activist Nick Xenophon’s SA Best party is set to win a bunch of lower house seats. Xenophon has advanced that he’ll unfold a major anti-pokies policy during next year and targeted the Australian Hotels Association (ASA).

“The AHA will have a bigger role in this campaign than any other, because they’re worried about their vested interests,” Xenophon said and added: “They’re worried that the gravy train that they’ve been on – largely on the backs of people addicted to poker machines – will be derailed.”

As the anti-gambling activist assures poker machine policy will play a decisive role in the state election campaign, the hotels lobby denies that and assures it’s a third-order issue. While Xenophon holds on the Tasmanian Labor Opposition’s pledge to ban pokies from pubs and clubs, AHA SA boss Ian Horne says comparing SA with Tasmania is like comparing “apples with oranges.”

“SA Best will announce a poker machine policy very soon [and] I expect the AHA will be even more worried,” Xenophon told news outlet InDaily.

Meanwhile, the AHA has already rolled out an advertising campaign to get South Australians to back anyone but Xenophon. Horne assured they’re “not targeting any particular party or individuals at this stage”, but added: “We’re of the opinion that hung parliaments don’t have a really good track history in Australia.”