In Manningham, the city council aims to reform gaming laws in order to help curb problem gambling rates. The proposed amendments will tell investors where they can open new gaming venues and expand existing venues across the area. Joe Carbone, who is the chief executive of the council, states that the amendment is based on ‘harm minimisation’.
It aims to reduce the potential harm that can be caused by gambling, as it will restrict pokie venues from existing in certain areas across Manningham. The amendment proposes that clubs cannot be built or expanded in suburbs that already have plenty of poker machines. It would also restrict new venues from opening up new public transportation hubs; this would prevent punters from going out of their way to play pokies.
Currently, Manningham seems to seeing significant success in minimising gambling harm. Since 2013, poker machine spending has dropped from over $65 million to $55.6 million. Punters across the city are losing less money on pokies, and the city council wants to further minimise losses. Manningham is also doing quite well with the number of poker machines in the city.
Many major metropolitan areas across Australia have a very high ratio of pokies to people – but Manningham’s is relatively low. There are only 509 pokies in the city, well below the cap of 928. A report commissioned by the council noted that these figures will encourage the introduction of new harm minimisation measures.
It reads: “These factors suggest that council is likely to face a number of limitations when seeking to respond to the community’s desire to reduce accessibility to electronic gaming machines”. However, they could also work against the new amendment. Local lawmakers may not see the need to further limit poker machine spending in Manningham.
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