Allan govt secretly delays plans to help gambling addicts, pockets$800m bonus
The state government has halted plans to help poker machine addicts in a move that will deliver $800 million into government coffers.
Victoria
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The state government has secretly delayed plans to help poker machine addicts in a move that will help deliver $800 million into government coffers.
The stalling of the plan to make punters who play pokies use cards that can set limits on losses has been slammed by gambling reform advocates as a “betrayal”.
And one Labor figure said the State Budget — which is forecasting a $600m surplus next year — now appears to be propped up by cash from battlers with gambling problems.
The reforms are in legislation that was put to state parliament last year, and would allow the government to introduce card-based play at pokies venues across Victoria this year.
The scheme is already in place at Crown Casino following Royal Commission recommendations, and is supposed to help gamblers consider how much they are willing to lose.
It was announced in 2023 by former premier Daniel Andrews, who said “we owe it to all Victorians to take this stance and help those experiencing harm turn their lives around”.
Following the announcement, former Treasurer Tim Pallas forecast pokies taxes to drop by hundreds of millions of dollars a year – although still deliver a $5bn pot of gold over four years.
But this year’s Budget, delivered by Treasurer Jaclyn Symes last week, revised electronic gaming taxes back up and projects a windfall of $5.9bn from pokies over four years.
The Government says it is still committed to introducing card-based play at pokies venues, but a trial of 40 venues that was supposed to happen by the middle of this year has been quietly dumped.
Insiders say there is now likely to be a re-evaluation of technology used for a trial, and a slower phase-in at clubs and hotels, which were supposed to have a scheme in place by the end of this year.
One option being pushed by the industry is to consider a South Australian model using facial recognition to enable problem gamblers to be denied entry rather than card-based play – but critics say this doesn’t help people who have not been excluded from venues.
Timing is likely to be outlined when a Bill that passed the lower house in March comes before the upper house.
Labor MPs said the delay does not look good, and some said it would be unpopular with colleagues who had campaigned for harm reduction.
One Labor figure pointed to the State Budget surplus of $600m forecast for next year while questioning the move.
“That’s built off the back of pokies losses from battlers in outer suburbs,” they said.
Alliance for Gambling Reform spokesman, Reverend Tim Costello, said “to delay these protections promised by Labor is a betrayal” and pointed to Crown’s introduction of precommitment cards.
“Its absence beyond Crown as Labor promised is a broken promise betraying its own base as most pokies are in the poorest postcodes,” he said.
“The result is more domestic violence, crime, and family suffering.”
When former gaming minister Melissa Horne introduced the laws to parliament last year she said a successful pilot of mandatory card-based play and precommitment on pokies would enable a rollout of technology to all poker machines “by the end of 2025”.
This would be done by using “casual” cards that don’t need identification linked or force players to set loss limits, and would be evaluated by the end of 2026.
“These changes will protect not just the 10 per cent of Victorians who play poker machines from gambling related harm, but their friends and loved ones,” she said at the time.
Gaming Minister Enver Erdogan has previously said the reforms would be phased over time, and to work closely with industry on how they are rolled out.
POKER MACHINE TAX FORECASTS
STATE BUDGET 2024
2024-25: $1.407bn
2025-26: $1.282bn
2026-27: $1.164bn
2027-28: $1.198bn
Total: $5.051bn
STATE BUDGET 2025
2025-26: $1.432bn
2026-27: $1.448bn
2027-28: $1.468bn
2028-29: $1.511bn
Total: $5.859bn
Originally published as Allan govt secretly delays plans to help gambling addicts, pockets$800m bonus
‘It’s really bad out there’: The silent toll drought is taking on farmers
Advocates are urging farming communities to speak up, as troubling reports of suicide and mounting debt highlight the urgent need for support.
The city is lush, but rural Victoria is bone dry. Farmers are starting to panic
Green fields have been bleached beige as drought continues to choke rural Victoria. Now, many of our farmers are even struggling to get enough water to shower and wash their dishes.