Last year, the Canberra Southern Cross Club earned $24 million from pokie revenue. Generating half of the organisation’s profits, it would seem that the Canberra Southern Cross Club relies greatly on gambling but chief Ian Mackay denies that this is the case.
According to a report in ABC News, Mr Mackay estimates that less than 1% of the Canberra Southern Cross Clubs customers are problem gamblers or are at risk of developing gambling addictions. He made his case before a Legislative Assembly inquiry into local clubs and their gambling businesses. "We believe we have very low incidence of problem gamblers and we handle them with compassion and care,” he says.
"No club wants a problem gambler because by definition they are a problem and from a pure commercial point of view it's not a recurring income that you can rely upon”. On the other hand, Senator Nick Xenophon argued that gambling addiction continues to be an issue among club patrons.
He states that pokie players could spend up to $1200 per hour on the gaming machines, but Mr Mackay says that it is impossible for that to happen and estimates that players do not spend any more than $18 an hour on pokies. "It's so overstated that it could be $1200,” he argues. “At $18 that's a more likely spend on what many people view as a totally viable, legitimate entertainment option”.
"It's just not possible to play at that speed and if you've tried feeding 20 bills into a poker machine that in itself is somewhat of an effort." He also refutes the claim that 40% of clubs’ pokie revenue comes from problem gamblers. Mackay believes that only 0.5% of its players may have harmful gambling habits but requires more research on the topic to be sure.
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