Australian Government Moves to Slow Down Pokie Players
Posted : March 17, 2007

Australians love to gamble and in particular they love to play the pokies or slot machines as we call them. The Government of Victoria - one of the Australian states is moving to slow down the potential for players to loose money on the pokies by removing ATM machines from any pub or club where pokies are located.

Victorian premier John Brumby has announced that as of 2012 no venue with poer machine can have ATM machines. This is to reduce the possible harm that gambling addicts can do as they will not be able to get any additional money at the gaming venues. Whether this will make any difference is yet to be seen.

My Brumby had this to say about the reasons behind the decision - ""If you are a problem gambler you've got to think twice before you go to the ATM and extract large amounts of cash".

Other states have not been so quick to join in on the idea with Queensland's premier Anna Bligh stating that the removal of ATM machines was not the solution to solving the countries gambling problems. Her comment are a reverse of the opinion of many Queensland residents who would like the amount of pokies to be reduced.

Not surprising is the fact that the state governments stand to lose millions of dollars of revenue if the pokie revenue goes down. In the year to date gamblers from Queensland have lost nearly $2 billion on the pokies which has contributed over $500 million to the state government.