SA Treasurer told to ban poker machines at SA clubs and pubs in 2025 state budget

South Australia’s Treasurer has been implored to make a sweeping overhaul of poker machines, with the revenue they generate being dubbed “immoral”. Have your say.

Calls to ban poker machines in South Australia are growing louder in the lead up to the state budget, with revenue collected from the gambling stream labelled “immoral”.

SA Greens are calling for a moratorium on new machines and for pokies to be phased out in SA pubs and clubs – a move backed by the SA Council of Social Service.

“We do need immediate action to see a substantial reduction in the number of poker machines in SA, and support an immediate moratorium on new poker machines,” SACOSS chief executive officer Ross Womersley said.

While he backed plans to phase out poker machines altogether, Mr Womersley thought the Greens push for this to happen in five years “might be too ambitious due to the reliance of government and licensed venues on poker machine revenue”.

Ross Womersley, chief executive of the South Australian Council of Social Service. Picture: Joanna Robinson, supplied by SACOSS

SA Treasurer Stephen Mullighan. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Consumer and Business Services figures showed South Australians lost a record $956 million in the 2023-24 financial year on poker machines, up from $917.5 million the year before.

Greens leader Robert Simms quoted research showing that for every $1 lost to gambling, about $1.20 of social harm was caused, as he issued his plea to have the phase out listed in next Thursday’s state budget.

He wanted the government to follow Western Australia’s lead where no poker machines were allowed outside of casinos.

Pokies cost South Australians almost $1bn a year.

In a letter to Treasurer Stephen Mulligan, Mr Simms called for a transition fund to support clubs and for pokies to be phased out in pubs and clubs over five years.

“Pokies are a scourge on our state. South Australians have lost billions of dollars on these machines over the last 30 years – they have destroyed thousands of lives,” Mr Simms said.

“Budgets are about choices. It’s immoral for our state to continue to use pokies as a revenue measure.”

The call is unlikely to be favourably answered after Mr Mullighan told ABC Radio that pokies were no longer the “biggest source of gambling harm in the community” and that it was the most tightly regulated form of gambling.

He claimed if the government banned pokies the “economic dislocation would be absolutely massive”.

“The fact is that the business model of the industry which employs nearly 30,000 South Australians is largely built off not only the revenue that poker machines can generate but it’s tied up in how they finance their businesses as well,” Mr Mullighan said.

Originally published as SA Treasurer told to ban poker machines at SA clubs and pubs in 2025 state budget