In Hobson’s Bay, residents spent over $47 million on poker machines in 2013. Local councillors want to reduce pokie losses in coming years, and a new law may help them do so by restricting certain venues from adding new gaming machines to their operations. According to the Herald Sun, the Altona Sport Club in Hobson’s Bay may not be permitted to add new gaming machines in the future.

This is because the council is currently considering whether or not council-owned venues should be permitted to increase the number of gaming machines that they operate. Altona Sports Club is home to 83 pokies and is the biggest poker machine club in Hobson’s Bay. In 2013, club patrons lost over $3 million on poker machines at the venue.

As such, local councillors believe that limiting the number of games at the club could help to reduce pokie spending among residents. “If our residents are losing that much money, we really need do need to think about it,’’ says councillor Luba Grigorovitch. Fortunately, gambling spending across Hobson’s Bay already seems to be on the decline.

Last year’s pokie spending of $47 million is a significant decline from 2012’s spending of $51 million. The drop in spending is likely due to the ATM withdrawal limit that was introduced at pokie clubs at the end of 2012. Players are not permitted to withdraw more than $250 a night from ATMs that are located at poker machine club.

It has certainly helped to cause pokie spending to drop across the state, and is likely the cause of the pokie spending decline in Hobson’s Bay. Still, local councillors believe that more can be done to curb problem gambling rates in the city. It is hoped that limiting the number of games that venues can add will help reduce poker machine spending among punters in Hobson’s Bay.

We will keep you updated with further developments about this law.

About the Author

George Anderson
Author George, has over 25+ years’ experience in the Pokies and Casinos industry throughout Australia and New Zealand. Loves to research new Pokies games on the block and follows announcements from top industry providers about their upcoming releases. As soon as a new interesting pokie game appears on his radar, George is there to check it out and give you the scoop before anyone else and tell you about all casino sites where can play the latest game. Before this gig, George worked as Pokie game tester, making him an ideal candidate for this genre of work. He is also an animal lover and a proud owner of three dogs.