Mayor Joseph Haweil slams impact of gambling on Hume

Punters have lost a staggering amount on pokies in Hume in the past year, with the dropping of Covid restrictions being blamed for the shock rise.

Punters lost more than $100m on the pokies in Hume, as the latest data revealed the extraordinary impact gambling has over one of Victoria’s most disadvantaged areas.

The Hume area recorded an annual loss of $104,550,477 to electronic gambling machines in 2022 — a 45 per cent increase from 2021’s amount of $72,199,631.

The report noted that Hume ranked as the fifth-highest local government area out of the state’s 79 LGAs for electronic gambling machine losses 2022.

Hume contains some of the most disadvantaged suburbs in Victoria as data from SEIFA in 2016 revealed the LGA was the 13th most socio-economic disadvantage in the state.

RMIT University’s Professor Lisa Farrell said the figures track with the pattern seen across the country. She pointed to the social isolation, windfall payments from Covid payouts and lack of access to pokies during lockdown as reasons for the rise.

“There was kind of a cocktail of things that have come together to kind of result in this kind of strong resurgence of participation in pokies,” she said

“The rise is being seen across Australia generally. NSW did a reasonable amount of work looking at what happened when they reopened pokies there and that showed a resurgence.”

The data amounts to $388,663 in losses per day and an annual average loss of $567 per adult according to the report.

Hume Mayor Joseph Haweil has been a long-time opposer of pokies in the area. Picture: Tim Carrafa

The council has implemented a gambling harm minimisation policy in 2019. It secured a municipal cap of 851 pokies machines in the area which is due for review next year.

Mayor Joseph Haweil has urged his fellow councillors to ensure the cap remains in place to protect residents.

“There are big companies, big corporates, billionaires and billionaire families out there who would love to pump 2000 pokies into Hume,” he said.

“We should oppose that tooth and nail when that comes up for review very soon because the last thing we need is more of these machines in this city.

“This is a predatory and evil industry, it targets those areas that are the lowest socio-economic areas and it plays on people’s aspirations and desires to inflict harm wherever it goes.”

Prof Farrell praised the council’s initiatives to tackle gambling including the Libraries After Dark program which is offered at Broadmeadows, Craigieburn and Sunbury’s libraries on Thursday evenings. The program is designed to offer at-risk groups with social or recreation options in partnership with Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.

“They were actually quite clever in Hume, most of the libraries that stay open are next to or very near to big pokies venues so it really is offering a direct alternative for individuals,” she said.

“I think we need a lot more of that because if you think about what you can do at night there is not a lot that doesn’t involve alcohol or gambling.

“This is sort of a philosophy about allowing or permitting gambling to be available in our communities while also providing alternatives as well.

“So it is a really good way of thinking about how to solve the problem without penalising those who actually just gamble for fun.”

The council’s gambling minimisation policy is due for review in September 2024.