When caps are introduced to limit the number of poker machines in a state or city, responsible gambling advocates are usually pleased. However, the ACT’s recent poker machine cap has attracted a great deal of criticism as safe gambling campaigns are not pleased with the target number. When ACT politicians first proposed the idea of a sinking lid policy, they planned to reduce the number of pokies in the state to less than 4000.
Now, the sinking lid target has been set to 4785, which is over 800 more than the original number. Reverend Tim Costello has called the sinking lid policy a ‘breach of faith’, as local politicians seems to have been misleading regarding the exact target of the sinking lid policy.
Reverend Costello and many other responsible gambling campaigners hoped to see a much lower limit, and they are dubious that shrinking the number of pokie to 4785 will not make very much difference in problem gambling rates. According to the Canberra Times, many campaigners are disappointed in the sinking lid policy, as they claim that they were not consulted during the planning process.
Frank Bassil, President of St Vincent de Paul Canberra and Goulburn, stated that the government did not reach out to him for consultation at any point while Social Service Director Susan Helyar stated that there was no consultation with the social sector. "We weren't involved in any of the conversation," she says. "They focused only on talking with the clubs."
While the sinking lid policy has attracted a great deal of criticism, it is still a step in the right direction. Correlations have been drawn between the number of pokies in a state and its problem gambling rates, so there is the possibility that we will see some improvement when poker machine numbers are reduced in the ACT.
About the Author
