Craig Lloyd the CEO of City of Whittlesea welcomed the Victorian Government’s new reforms across electronic gaming machines.
“Council has a longstanding position on advocating for gambling harm minimisation measures including reducing the operating hours of gaming venues and capping gaming machine numbers. We are also currently advocating for an expansion of the Libraries after Dark program locally as a gambling prevention initiative,” Lloyd told Neos Kosmos.
The City of Whittlesea is ranked sixth in Victoria for money lost on poker machines, with residents losing more than $97.5 million through gaming machines in the 2021-22 financial year. “We hope these reforms will help limit the harm gambling is causing in our community.”
Former Whittlesea Mayor, Mary Lalios, welcomed the Victorian government’s gambling reforms announced on Sunday. The City of Whittlesea suffers heavily from electronic gaming machines (EGMs) losses, and according to the council’s site, losses in 2019 amounted to $303,715 per day on pokies.
On Sunday, Premier Daniel Andrews and gaming minister Melissa Horne announced a series of reforms for EGMs across the state.
In Victoria, poker machines will now require mandatory pre-commitment limits and carded play. Load-up limits, determining the amount of money an individual can put into a poker machine at a time, will be capped at $100, down from the current limit of $1000.
Since July 1, players are only able to put $500 cash into machines at a time, down from $5000.
Other reforms announced on Sunday include mandatory venue closures for every pub and club’s gambling area from 4 am to 10 am and reducing the spin rates on new machines to 3 seconds.
In a statement to Neos Kosmos, Lalios said that while she is still waiting to see all the details, the reforms “will go a long way towards minimising gambling harm in our community, especially in many multicultural communities, including the Greek community.”
“These reforms appear to be very significant, particularly the set loss limits of no more than $100 a day and needing a new identity card to play.
“I understand that the reforms will also likely reduce the huge amounts of money being laundered through poker machines.”
She said that Australians “lose more than $25 billion a year in gambling losses with poker machine losses being the biggest source of losses.”
The government will ban gambling-related signage from outside pubs and clubs and vowed to reduce the number of pokies in the state and impose a ban on political donations from clubs with gaming operations.
Lalios said that these reforms are “a result of hard work by many prominent advocates” and singled out Chief Advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Reverend Tim Costello.
“He ought to be applauded for his passion and fearless support of reforms for a sustained period of time.”
Reverend Tim Costello said Victorians have waited a very long time for meaningful and significant reform.
“These reforms appear to be very significant, especially the introduction of mandatory carded play with set loss limits of no more than $100 a day,” he said.
“We still need to see all of the details, but this will go a long way towards minimizing gambling harm in our community as well as reducing the huge amounts of dirty money being laundered through poker machines.”
The changes are expected to be in place by the end of the year. Premier Andrews said it was important for his government to make the changes.
“These reforms will provide the strongest gambling harm preventions and anti-money laundering measures in Australia,” he said.
“We owe it to all Victorians to take this stance and help those experiencing harm turn their lives around. NSW is also looking to crack down on gambling harm and will begin trialling cashless gaming on poker machines within months.
In 2020, after conducting a thorough investigation into the governance and operations of the City of Whittlesea, the Victorian government decided to dismiss the Council.
The Council had been plagued by internal conflicts and had seen five different executive officers within a span of five years. There were also allegations of councillors engaging in self-serving practices and making decisions that did not prioritise the community’s interests.
Instead of directing funds towards essential services, like gambling harm, the Council had spent over $500,000 on internal legal disputes. Elections are scheduled for October next year, aiming to bring about meaningful change.
