80 per cent of Berwick residents say no to 10 new poker machines at local pub

BERWICK residents are overwhelmingly against plans for new poker machines at a local pub, with more than 80 per cent of formal submissions to the council objecting to the plan.

Plans for more pokies at a local pub are unpopular with Berwick residents with 28 of 34 submissions objecting to the proposal

BERWICK residents are overwhelmingly against plans for new poker machines at a local pub, with more than 80 per cent of formal submissions to the council objecting to the plan.

City of Casey acting manager of city planning Keri New said the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation was the ultimate decision-making authority on the application but the council would take all residents’ concerns into account.

“It will be determined (at the July 18 meeting) whether to lodge a submission to the VCGLR on the proposed additional gaming machines at Zagame’s,” she said.

“During its decision Council will give consideration to the responses received during the community consultation process, with 28 of the 34 submissions objecting to the proposal.”

Zagames Berwick wants to add an extra 10 electronic gaming machines to its premises, bringing its total to the maximum allowable 105.

Earlier this month the State Government announced pokie numbers in Victoria would be capped at 27,372 for the next 25 years.

Venues will still be able to get extra machines if they can buy existing licences from venues that are getting rid of machines.

Greens MLC for the South East Metropolitan Region Nina Springle said a better approach would be to introduce $1 bet limits, mandatory precommitment, and increased powers for local councils to reject pokies applications.

“Local councils have opposed the majority of applications for new pokie licenses over the past 18 months but Victoria’s gambling regulator has continued to approve new machines regardless,” she said.

Berwick man Tom Cummings, who has been campaigning against the extra machines, said on his anti-pokies blog Cyenne the change would mean little because there was no plan to reduce the number of machines.

He said smaller venues would likely sell their licences to larger venues, resulting in a concentration of pokies in pubs, where people statistically lost more money.

The City of Casey will consider the pokies proposal at its meeting on Tuesday night.

There are 903 electronic gaming machines in Casey, spread across 13 venues. According to the latest data from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, Casey gamblers lost more than $10 million on poker machines in May this year and more than $100 million over the past 12 months.