AFL clubs in too deep with reliance on poker machine revenue

CARLTON and eight other Victorian teams stripped almost $90 million from gamblers in the 2014-15 financial year.

14/11/2006 NEWS: Generic images of poker machines.

PUNTERS lost more than $17 million to Carlton-run poker machines in the 2014-15 financial year.

Add in beers and meals at one of the club’s four venues and you have a tick more than $18 million against “member venue revenue” in the club’s latest annual report.

The Blues and eight other Victorian teams stripped almost $90 million from gamblers in that year.

Carlton on Wednesday signed up to the responsible gambling charter — taking money from a government agency to shun sports-betting sponsorships — but have no plans to reduce their stake in poker machines.

The stance — described by World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello as hypocritical — is shared by Richmond, Essendon, Collingwood, St Kilda, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.

All have signed the charter, but continue to run machines.

The Victoria Responsible Gambling Foundation won’t say how much its partnerships with AFL clubs are worth — describing the deals as “commercial-in-confidence”.

Pokies have been the “go-to” source of non-football revenue for clubs since changes in state law late last decade flooded the auction market with gaming machine entitlements.

The move into gaming was actively encouraged by the AFL — which has since remained mostly silent on an industry that has contributed about 10 per cent of the game’s wealth in the past five years.

Clubs including Essendon and Geelong have recently expressed a desire to reduce their reliance on poker machines, but there are no answers from anyone, anywhere, about how the revenue pokies generate might be replaced.

Even clubs that privately want to be rid of the machines are in too deep to get out now.

Of the $18 million generated by its pokies last year, Carlton spent $15.8 million running the venues, meaning a gaming surplus of about $2.2 million.

That against the backdrop of a $2.7 million loss for the football club and a $1.6 million loss in the year before.

Short of the AFL using part of the $2.5 billion broadcast rights deal to rid football of pokies, it is difficult to see a club extricating itself.

Richmond and Hawthorn increased the number of machines at their venues last year, and Melbourne spent big money over the summer on improvements at its venues.

The Western Bulldogs have 70 machines gathering dust the club explores legal options following the collapse of the Edgewater development.

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Originally published as AFL clubs in too deep with reliance on poker machine revenue