By ALESHA CAPONE
HOBSONS Bay City Council has urged the State Government to introduce measures which could help reduce problem gambling.
The council has sent a letter of support to the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission’s (VCEC) inquiry into the social and economic costs of problem gambling.
During the 2011-’12 financial year, more than $52.63 million was spent on the pokies in Hobsons Bay.
This amounts to $763 per poker machine for every adult living within the area.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Hobsons Bay is ranked as the ninth-most disadvantaged municipality in Melbourne.
But the area also has the twelfth-highest pokies losses out of all Victoria’s 79 council areas, as shown in statistics from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.
The Hobsons Bay City Council letter to the VCEC said gambling addiction was highest in the municipality’s poorest areas.
According to the ABS, Laverton is the most disadvantaged suburb, followed by Brooklyn and Altona North.
“The geographic concentration of these gambling losses in Hobsons Bay bears out the council’s concern that problem gambling impacts most heavily on those who are the most vulnerable,” the council’s letter said.
“As such the council would support any move by the State Government to introduce measures that would limit the negative problem gambling on the gamblers, their families and friends, and on the wider community which also bears a considerable cost.” Gambler’s help: 1800 858 858.
