More than $56 million went through pokies in Ballarat in 2018, $1.7 million more than last year.
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The Alliance for Gambling Reform, using statistics from the Victorian Commission for Liquor and Gambling Regulation, found $56,562,872.97 was expended at electronic gaming machines across the city of Ballarat in the last 12 months, and another $22 million was spent in surrounding shires.
The money was spread across 15 venues in Ballarat, with the most going through Zagame’s Ballarat Club Hotel – almost $13 million went through its 105 machines.
$10.5 million went through Central Goldfields and Mt Alexander shires, an increase of 1.4 per cent, while $12.1 million went through Moorabool and Hepburn shires, 3.2 per cent more than last year.
There are seven hotels and clubs in those shires, and there are no electronic gaming licenses in Golden Plains or Pyrenees shires.
City of Ballarat councillor Belinda Coates has been vocal in her opposition to pokies, and said they have a “significant impact” on the community.
“It’s always disappointing to hear the losses are increasing, but it’s not surprising,” she said.
“We know poker machines do cause a lot of harm in our community, and that’s not just financial losses, it’s social issues associated with that as well - the relationship problems, hardship issues, and associated mental health issues.”
She added the Ballarat Interagency Taskforce on Gambling was focused on lobbying the state government to change regulations.
“We know that some of the arguments in the past have been that pokies have economic benefits, but if money put into pokies went into other areas of employment like hospitality or retail, you’d actually get more jobs with the same amount of money spent,” she said.
“With the recent election, there’s an opportunity to step up and put pressure on our local members to really address pokies harm.”
The Victorian Commission for Liquor and Gambling Regulation notes that as of November 2018, there are 657 machines, or 79 per 1000 adults in Ballarat, which is 51.1 per cent higher than the state average and 9.2 per cent higher than the regional average.
In the 2017-18 financial year, there was an average expenditure of $675 per adult, again higher than the state and regional averages.
The Australian Hotels Association and Zagame’s was contacted for comment.
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