Archbishop of Sydney

Gambling

By + George Pell
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
5 August 2001

The total number of poker machines in New South Wales will be permanently capped, and clubs and pubs will no longer have an automatic right to them. No club will be able to operate more than 450 machines in one venue, and the 18 clubs around the state with more than this will be forced to reduce their holdings by 10 percent over a five-year period.

Clubs and hotels will be able to buy and sell machine permits in their own sectors, but they will be required to forfeit one permit for every two they trade. This will substantially reduce the number of machines in use (currently 100,000) over time.

Gambling is a complex issue to deal with. Most people enjoy a flutter without any problem, but a substantial number become addicted to the possibility of winning a fortune on the next go. For these people, gambling becomes a cause of self-destruction, sometimes leading them not only to impoverish themselves and their families, but in a few tragic cases to criminal neglect of their children.

We live in a free society, and in responding to these sorts of problems which are so destructive to the community, we should not take this for granted. We need to balance the right of people to gamble is they choose a especially when most do so with little or no harm a with measures to deter, restrain and help problem gamblers.

The government's new program builds on its earlier freeze on gaming machine numbers in clubs and hotels and certainly looks like a serious and sustainable approach to reducing the harm that addiction to poker machines causes.

There are other practical measures that should be considered. Automatic teller machines should be moved out of clubs and the nearby vicinity to give people in the thrall of the machines a chance to cool down and take stock once the money in their pocket has run out. Wiring up each machine so that it shuts down for five minutes in every hour would have a similar effect.

Ways of limiting the number of machines that can be played at one time should also be considered and implemented. The government has signalled its intention to introduce a ban on 24 hour gaming at clubs and hotels, and a ban on the use of cash prizes to market gaming. Use of non-cash prizes for this purpose will be limited $1,000, and other forms of advertising and signage outside clubs and hotels promoting poker machines will be restricted or banned.

The casino and the clubs will also be required to establish formal links with problem gambling counselling services, and the Social Impact Assessment process introduced in 2000 will be extended in significant ways. Current exemptions to the process will be removed, and no application for a new gaming machine venue will be approved unless the venue demonstrates its willingness to implement effective measures to ensure responsible gambling and the avoidance of harm. Greater community input is also provided for.

It is not the final word, and there will always be more that we can do, but government's response represents a significant advance in winding back the size of the gambling octopus in this state, and deserves our support.