SPENDING on poker machines in Wyndham has fallen over the past decade but problem gambling rates remain steady, an inquiry has heard.
Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) figures reveal the average annual spend per adult on pokies in Wyndham was $730 in 2010-11, down from $910 nine years ago. This compares to a smaller statewide decrease from $627 to $613.
In a submission to a Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission inquiry into problem gambling, the regulator said the decrease could have been caused by changing attitudes to electronic gaming machines and government efforts to tackle problem gambling.
But a Municipal Association of Victoria submission said while the level of problem gambling as a proportion of the population fell between 2003 and 2008, the level of problem gambling “had stayed remarkably consistent”.
“For both average users and particularly for those classified as problem gamblers, average expenditure increased significantly in real terms, suggesting a likely increase in the level of harm experienced by those with gambling problems,” it said.
“Although the number of problem gamblers reportedly shrank as a proportion of the population, the harm experienced by those who had a gambling problem was likely to have increased.”
According to the MAV, councils were largely powerless to stop new pokie venues opening and stave off the economic, social and health impacts of problem gambling. It said annual gambling losses of $5.1 billion statewide could have been better spent on other businesses.
HealthWest project manager James Dunne said Wyndham’s alarming yearly losses of more than $88 million should prompt regulatory reform, giving local councils more clout to reject bids for poker machines.
“At the moment when local governments receive applications for more pokies or new venues in their local area, there is only a certain amount of power that they have to reject the applications,” he said.
Mr Dunne said council rejections were often overturned by the VCGLR or at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
“The process of fighting a pokie application . . . is costly and even for those local governments with a strong gambling policy and a solid basis to reject an application, there is no guarantee of winning.”
