Anti-gambling experts say $197m pokie addiction plan a flop

A CONTROVERSIAL $197 million program rolled out on poker machines to tell gambling addicts to punt responsibly has been slammed after less than 15,000 Victorians signed up to the scheme.

A CONTROVERSIAL $197 million poker machine program designed to tell gamblers to punt responsibly has been slammed after less than 15,000 Victorians signed up to the scheme.

Victoria’s voluntary precommitment scheme YourPlay was heralded as the new way to tackle problem gambling when it was launched in 2015.

However, as of January only 3219 users players had used the system to set a personalised message to be displayed warning them to stop gambling and only 14,451 people registered for the program.

A further 39,000 casual cards were issued and activated at pokie venues but anti-gambling experts have labelled the plan a flop.

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Alliance for Gambling Reform director and spokesman Tim Costello.

Alliance for Gambling Reform director and spokesman Tim Costello said YourPlay was having “little impact given that Victorian pokies losses are continuing to rise.”

Last week’s Victorian budget flagged record poker machine proceeds with people forecast to plug $1.18 billion down the slots in 2018/19 and $4.5 billion over the next four years.

“The scheme was never likely to reduce harm from dangerous and addictive poker machines.,’’ Mr Costello said.

“Given that almost 1 million Victorians gamble on poker machines each year, to only have 14,451 YourPlay cards registered after more than 2 years shows how ineffective it has been.

“The government should instead focus on more meaningful reform such as reducing the 20 hours a day which venues can trade and cutting the maximum bet from $5 to $1 as recommended by the Productivity Commission.”

Minister for Gaming and Liquor Regulation Marlene Kairouz. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The YourPlay system is mandatory on all machines in Victoria but voluntary for users.

But it has delivered 9.4 million automatic messages informing people of their losses mid play.

Industry footed the lions share of the $197 million to introduce the scheme with taxpayers contributing $11 million which included a $2 million YourPlay awareness campaign.

Minister for Gaming and Liquor Regulation Marlene Kairouz said the Victorian government was working on reducing gambling addiction.

“We’ve announced a raft of reforms to protect Victorians from gambling harm — and YourPlay is one of them,’’ she said.

“It’s the first state-wide scheme in Australia to allow users to track and limit the amount they spend on pokies.”

The program was to be independently reviewed six months after it began, however the deadline has now been extended to August 2018.

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