Club owners in the ACT area have agreed to a trial for poker machine precommitment. However, they have admitted that they do not know exactly what will be required of them during the trial, which is scheduled to take place in 2013. Last Thursday, club owners from across the area gathered to discuss the issue. They wanted to determine the best course of action, debating whether or not taking part in the trial would be a good idea.
While the group of club owners agreed that they would take part in the trial, they are still not sure what is going to be asked of them. While testing precommitment technology is, of course, the main goal, club operators do not know anything else about the trial. "We don't know what exactly will be trialled”, Jeff House of Clubs ACT says. “We don't know the assessment methodology”.
Clubs are also concerned about the compensation. Julia Gillard has announced that over $37 million will be paid to the clubs that take part in the trial. However, some club owners are concerned that it will not be enough; they want to know what the government plans to do if that happens to be the case.