At a time when entertainment venue operators across the country should be looking for ways to reduce poker machine numbers, anyone who wants to introduce new pokies is being criticized. The latest venue to come under fire is the Braybrook Hotel, which has recently applied for 19 new pokies from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.
The Braybrook Hotel is also home to 31 pokies, and the owner of the venue wants to add a few more. What seems like a harmless addition is being considered an “act of social vandalism” by Dr Charles Livingstone, a problem gambling researcher at Monash University.
According to various research reports, Braybrook is a very disadvantaged area. It is one of the most poverty-stricken areas in Victoria, as a Maribyrnong City Council report found that the city has an 8.2% unemployment rate, and that 29% of residents receive financial assistance from the government. Still, residents spent over $16 million on pokies over the course of 2011.
As such, Dr Livingstone believes that adding new pokies will only hurt the community. Pokie operators are being urged to avoid adding new pokies to disadvantaged areas because it is believe that they would only help to increase poverty rates. “I expect Maribyrnong council will vigorously oppose the application,” says Dr Livingstone.
‘‘To increase accessibility to poker machines in this suburb would be an act of social vandalism and wreak considerable additional harm on an area which is already suffering significantly from gross disadvantage”. However, the hotel is certain that the new pokies will benefit the local community. The additional games are part of a $6.2 million redevelopment, which would create more jobs for local residents.
This would great benefit the local economy, but there are concerns that the effect of the additional pokies simply would not be worth it.
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