By Alesha Capone
The Geelong Football Club has sold The Brook hotel in Point Cook to the Melbourne Racing Club.
Geelong FC chief executive Brian Cook described the sale as “a proud day for our club” last month.
“While there may have been sound reasons for entering gaming years ago, we recognised that this was not aligned with our club values and wider community expectations,” he said.
“In recent years we have been working toward a complete exit from gaming. Today is the culmination of those efforts.”
Mr Cook said that at one stage, the club had 100 gaming machines which generated close to $4 million in net profits through gaming.
“We decided we need to find new revenue opportunities to ensure the club will be viable in the future, and worked with a number of parties to exit gaming,” he said.
“The club also made the decision two years ago to reject any advertising or sponsorship from gambling companies.
“The feedback from members regarding our approach has been positive and we think it is in the best interest of the club.”
Between July 2019 and June 2020 this year, Wyndham’s pokies earned $75.75 million.
However, pokies machines across the state were not accessible during the pandemic lockdowns from March onwards.
There are 903 electronic gaming machines located in Wyndham.
Visit www.gamblinghelponline.org.au or call the Gambler’s Helpline on 1800 858 858 if you need help with gambling.
