Mercure Resort and Uncles Tavern to remain pokie-free as cap lowered

A decision to lower the cap on pokies means more venues in Alice Springs will remain without the machines, but there is still potential for 20 more to be approved in the town.

A decision to drop the Territory-wide cap on pokies means more Alice Springs venues will remain without the devices, with a call yet to be made on applications for 20 new machines at the Todd Tavern and Gap View Hotel.

The NT government announced it had lowered the cap on gaming machines in community venues from 1699 to 1659 on Tuesday.

It came as the nine-month moratorium on new gaming machines in Alice Springs introduced by Racing, Gaming and Licensing Minister Chansey Paech last September ended.

The moratorium followed widespread community concern after hospitality giant Iris Capital applied to add 20 machines each to the Mercure Resort and Uncles Tavern, and 10 each to the Gap View Hotel and Todd Tavern.

Community group 'No New Pokies - Mparntwe Alice Springs' surveyed 1000 locals and tourists in Alice Springs about new pokie machines in the town. Picture: Supplied

More than 700 submissions were written as part of the No New Pokies in Mpartnwe campaign against the machines.

Applications for 40 of those machines, at the Mercure Resort and Uncles Tavern, have now been withdrawn, with a call yet to be made on existing applications for the 20 machines at Todd Tavern and Gap View Hotel.

No New Pokies in Mpartnwe member Emma Buckley Lennox said the news Uncles and the Mercure would remain pokie free was a “win” for the community.

“It is a win for everyone who loves to go to Uncles and sit out the front in the sun or get on the mic on a Friday night,” she said.

Racing, Gaming and Licensing Minister Chansey Paech said if licenses for the 20 pokies at Todd Tavern and Gap View Tavern were not approved the government would reduce the cap further. Picture: Sierra Haigh

“It’s a win for the families who love to take their kids to the Barra on Todd for a feed and a dip.”

However, the group is calling for the government to reduce the gap by a further 20 machines to prevent any new pokies in the town.

“We remain hopeful that the Director of Gaming Machines will listen to the hundreds of people and organisations who wrote in to oppose the applications for the Todd Tavern and Gap View Hotel, and reject those applications,” she said.

“We will keep on fighting until there are no new pokies in our town.

There is clearly no social license for new pokies in Mparntwe.”

Mr Paech, in an ABC Alice Springs radio interview, said he had brought in the moratorium to listen to members of the community and had since heard “loud and clear” the sentiment around not wanting new machines in venues.

“And that’s absolutely what has been announced today is that moving forward under a Territory Labor government there will be less and less, not more and more pokies across the Territory,” he said.

He said it was important to note the applications for the remaining 20 machines had to be considered against the law as it stood when they were submitted.

“We have been in long discussions and negotiations for some time, we have seen 40 machine applications withdrawn for pokie machines in new venues, and there is a current application that the Director of Gaming Machines will have to consider around whether or not they will be granted,” he said.

“We have to make allowances for potentially 20 new machines because those applications have to be considered against the law as it stood when they were submitted, we have to have that provision.

“If the Director of Gaming Machines doesn’t approve those licenses, then the government will move to reduce the cap again.”