By LAURA WAKELY
A GOVERNMENT inquiry into the costs of problem gambling has been welcomed in Brimbank where more than $145.6 million was spent on poker machines in the last financial year.
The inquiry wants to reduce the harm and cost of problem gambling to the community by investigating the social and economic cost of problem gambling in Victoria.
Brimbank City Council has one of the highest expenditures on pokers machines in the state and studies have shown 85 per cent of problem gamblers use poker machines.
More than $12 million was swallowed up by Brimbank machines in July alone, with 948 machines across the municipality.
At June 2012, $970 was lost on poker machines for every adult in Brimbank, compared to the state average of $602 per person.
But despite these figures, a council survey found just 42.7 per cent of residents think there are too many gaming machines in Brimbank.
Brimbank Council has tried to respond to the problem by adding a higher rate to pokies venues, double that of other commercial venues.
In their submission to the inquiry Brimbank Council asked the Government to extend its study of the costs of problem gambling to consider the costs to local governments, health, housing and economic analysis, including the cost to council for planning permit application for pokies venues and to attend hearings at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) and Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR).
Brimbank revealed each VCGLR hearing costs ratepayers $20,000 – with the figure increasing if the case is appealed at VCAT.
Administrator Joanne Anderson said the statistics showed what a “dreadful problem” poker machines cause for the municipality.
She said high pokies losses were of particular concern in Brimbank, as there was already existing socio-economic disadvantage.
“The combination of those two factors have absolutely diabolical consequences,” Ms Anderson said.
