SA Election 2018: SA Best skewers supermarket giant Woolworths over pokies machines

FAMILIES cannot afford to buy food from Woolworths because they have lost their savings to predatory poker machines owned by the supermarket giant according to SA Best.

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FAMILIES cannot afford to buy food from Woolworths because they have lost their savings to predatory poker machines owned by the supermarket giant, SA Best says.

On Sunday, the party and its allies called on the company — which has an interest in almost 1000 machines in SA — to get out of the gambling business.

It estimated 11 per cent of Woolworths’ profits came from its poker machine interests, saying that figure was unprecedented for any supermarket company in the world.

It claimed Woolworths was funding a deceitful, over-the-top attempt by hoteliers to influence next weekend’s state election — just as they had in Tasmania.

Questions have been raised, in that state, over the role the gaming industry’s financial and in-kind backing of the Liberal Party played in its victory.

Critics have called for a public, independent inquiry into advertising, spending and legislative loopholes in Tasmania’s election rules.

An anti-pokies campaigner behind SA Best Leader Nick Xenophon. Picture: David Mariuz/AAP

Reverend Tim Costello, for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said the Australian Hotels Association was looking to repeat its success in SA.

“Woolworths should be ashamed of the AHA pokies campaigns they are helping to finance,” he said.

“If they want to maintain their ‘family friendly’ image they should sever all ties with the AHA and resign their membership.

“(The campaign) is nothing short of reckless scaremongering funded by vested interests who want to cover up the enormous harm covered by the industry.”

Former pokies addict Shonica Guy said Woolworths was supporting predatory, addictive and dangerous gambling even as it promoted healthy living and eating.

“This company, which portrays itself as ‘The Fresh Food People’, is really just ‘The Pokies People’, hiding behind the misleading claims being relentlessly pushed by the AHA,” he said.

“When I was gambling on Woolworths poker machines, I didn’t have any money left to spend at the supermarket — it was all soaked up by their addictive machines.”

Australian Hotels Association (SA) general manager Ian Horne said it was SA Best, not his organisation, that was being deceitful.

“Are we running a scare campaign? I’ll tell you this, our industry is running scared,” he said.

“We stand by our claims and are absolutely confident that (under SA Best’s policies) there will be a significant drop in revenue that leads to a significant drop in jobs.

“What a clever thing to do, to drag in a national retailer, when 90 per cent of venues in this state are small, medium or family-based businesses.

“This is a stunt ... Mr Xenaphon is being deliberately provocative and trying to imply there’s something sinister going on.”

The breakdown of pokies revenue in South Australia.

SA Best says that, through its ALH Group, Woolworths has an interest in 990 machines — recording over $60 million in patron losses annually — across 32 pubs including the Ramsgate and Esplanade Hotel.

Those hotels are part of the AHA campaign which, the party says, falsely claims SA Best policies will cost jobs and cause $1.2 billion losses to the hotel industry.

A University of Adelaide study found just three jobs are created for every $1 million lost on the pokies, compared to more than 12 jobs for every $1 million spent on hospitality.

On Sunday, Mr Xenaphon said sports and community not-for-profit clubs, which would not be affected by SA Best’s policies, had been “sucked in to” the AHA’s “scare tactics”.

He said Woolworths should reveal how much financial support it had provided to the AHA, Liberal and Labor parties during the election campaign.

He questioned the role played by former Liberal premier John Olsen, given “his known close relationships with hotel pokies operators”.

“They claim that regulating the rampant pokies industry will cost jobs, despite a number of studies — including their own statistics — telling us otherwise,” he said.

“What are they really worried about? Their own profits are made off the back of vulnerable and addicted South Australians caught in the grip of the pokies.”

Mr Xenophon estimated that up to $2 million worth of campaign funding had been provided by Woolworths through the gaming and hotels companies in which it had an interest.

He said it was “deductive reasoning and axiomatic” that the supermarket chain was supporting a campaign to frustrate SA Best’s chances at the election.

Mr Horne dismissed those claims.

“I don’t know how he ‘knows’ that — he’s speculating, he couldn’t ‘know’ that,” he said.

“Individual ALH pubs are members of the AHA, they pay their fees ... the amounts we are spending (on the campaign) are extraordinarily modest.”

Mr Horne said patron spending on poker machines last financial year was the lowest it had been for 15 years.

“We have received no specific money from any major corporation of any sort ... our campaign is funding from its own resources,” he said.

A Woolworths Group spokeswoman said the company took its “responsibilities in responsible gaming and the service of alcohol very seriously”.

“We are committed to ensuring that we live up to the standards and values expected of us by our customers and the communities in which we operate,” she said.

“(We also live up to the standards expected by) the many thousands of team members who work within ALH venues and other parts of the Group across Australia.

“This includes ensuring we, through ALH, take the appropriate steps to ensure we are a responsible gaming operator.”

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