Pokies help to fund a wide range of community activities and initiatives. One of most common uses for pokie funding is sports, as pokie profits pump millions of dollars into football and rugby clubs every year. According to recent reports, there are only five clubs that do not rely on this gambling funding in order to operate. Sports clubs are a unique entity in Australia’s gambling market.
Clubs can operate their own pokies and reap the majority of the profits for their own operating costs. Most clubs take advantage of the opportunity, but there are some that would prefer to find the money elsewhere. According to The Age, there were five clubs in Australia that did not need poker machine funding to turn a profit last year. They were: North Melbourne, Richmond, West Coast, Fremantle and Collingwood.
In 2013, North Melbourne made a profit worth $1.3 million without the assistance of poker machines. According to industry analysts, this is due to the fact that the club has very low operating costs. Unfortunately, the club has not performed particularly well. In order to improve in the future, the club aims to spend its entire spending cap next year. Collingwood earned $5.22 million while Richmond earned $3.3 million.
Richmond was able to rake in such generous profits thanks to increased membership, gate receipts and the team’s performance over the season. Both West Coast and Freemantle brought in $1.3 million. These statistics go to show that it is not impossible to run a successful sports club without relying on gambling revenue for assistance.
These clubs have shown resourcefulness by looking for additional funding in other areas of their operations. This serves as a positive example for other clubs that may be considering cutting their ties to gambling funding.
About the Author
