Another good reason to reign in poker machines:

Pokies and theft 'go hand in hand'

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22195444-421,00.html

THE use of poker machines has for the first time been linked to increases in crimes such as robbery, theft, fraud and forgery in Australia.

The results of a study by South Australian researchers published in the latest international Journal of Gambling Studies show the rate of "income-generating" crime was higher in areas of heavy expenditure on gaming machines.

The levels of "non-income-generating" crimes, such as assaults, public disorder and vandalism, did not show an increase.

The concentration of gaming machines in socio-economically disadvantaged areas "may add disproportionately to their already significant social problems", it said.

Until now there had been much conjecture about whether gambling was linked to crime.

Gambling addiction is regularly used as a defence in court by offenders charged with crimes such as fraud and theft, but there is no way to know whether they are telling the truth.

The researchers said they wanted to avoid the problems of previous studies relying on individual offenders and police records by examining the problem at a community level.

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Keno to be allowed in NSW pubs: report

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Keno-to-be-allowed-in-NSW-pubs-report/2007/09/19/1189881542069.html

The NSW government will allow pubs to introduce the Keno lottery game but denies it is in return for multi-million dollar donations from the hotel industry.

Gaming and Racing Minister Graham West agreed to amend the Keno license last week, two years after former premier Bob Carr said he had no intention of allowing pubs to carry the game.

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said: "In the state election, the hotel industry bankrolled the Labor Party with generous donations.

"Just six months later, the NSW government allows Keno in pubs.

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Salvos support Crowe's pokies purge

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Salvos-support-Crowes-pokies-purge/2007/09/19/1189881521203.html

The Salvation Army has rushed to support a proposal by South Sydney Leagues Club co-owner Russell Crowe to purge its 160 poker machines during a refurbishment.

The move is expected to cost the club millions in lost gaming revenue.

But the Oscar-winning actor has requested the club re-open next year without pokies, breaking the dependence of rugby league clubs on socially destructive gaming revenue.

The Salvation Army will be contacting Souths as soon as possible to see what support it can lend to the initiative to make it work, spokesman Pat Daley said.

"This is a watershed moment in addressing the scourge of gambling, after governments have failed," he said.

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Judge blasts states for gambling culture

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Judge-blasts-states-for-gambling-culture/2007/12/06/1196812888851.html

A judge sentencing a gambling addict for stealing from her employer has lashed out at governments that allow easy access to poker machines by the "psychologically or intellectually challenged."

Judge Roland Williams told the County Court on Thursday that a state that allows poker machines to be easily accessible in suburban pubs and clubs must expect courts to show some leniency in sentencing gambling addicts.

He was speaking before sending Marlene Patricia Jack, 55, to jail for six months for stealing more than $95,000 from Fawkner Cemetery where she had worked as a payroll officer.

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NSW pokie cuts a hoax: opposition

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/NSW-vows-to-slash-poker-machine-numbers/2007/12/07/1196812986418.html

A surprise decision by the NSW government to cut the state's poker machine cap has been labelled a hoax, after it was claimed it would not lower the number of machines currently in use.

NSW Gaming Minister Graham West on Friday announced the government would cut the statewide cap on machines from 104,000 to 99,000 under reforms to the Gaming Machines Act.

Mr West said the 5,000-cut eradicated the forfeiture pool, created when pubs and clubs traded machines.

A further 3,000 machines would be cut from the current total over the next five years because of the forfeiture or buyback scheme, in which one poker machine is returned to the government for every three traded.

But opposition gaming spokesman George Souris said the cuts were a "hoax", given the current number of machines being used was just over 97,000.

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States 'must rethink pokies addiction'

http://news.smh.com.au/states-must-rethink-pokies-addiction/20080103-1k08.html

State governments must renegotiate funding arrangements with the commonwealth or boost other funding streams to cut their reliance on tax revenues from poker machines, says the author of a new gambling report.

Dr Charles Livingstone says Australia's state governments need to free themselves from their addiction to poker machines.

The states make an annual $4.5 billion from gambling, and pokies revenue accounts for $2.9 billion, according to the report co-authored by Dr Livingstone, an expert in gambling studies and a senior lecturer at Monash University.

NSW is the leader in gathering pokies taxes, reaping $990 million a year, just ahead of Victoria's $911 million.

Rudd faces new anti-pokies pressure

http://news.smh.com.au/rudd-faces-new-antipokies-pressure/20080209-1r9p.html

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faces increased pressure from senator-elect and anti-poker machine crusader Nick Xenophon, who will demand strict new laws that will put billions of dollars of government tax revenue at risk.

The reforms include smart cards to set daily limits on the amount players can pump into linked machines and laws forbidding automatic teller machines in gambling areas.

"I want to push the envelope as far as I can to reduce the hurt poker machines cause people," Mr Xenophon told Fairfax newspapers.

"The prime minister displayed a lot of guts and courage by making this a major issue during the election."

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce vowed to team up with Mr Xenophon on the issue.

"I'm on side," Mr Joyce told Fairfax.

"It is not tolerable any more that state governments, pubs and hotels make money out of these addictions."

Last financial year the NSW government extracted $1.06 billion in tax revenue from pokie operators.

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Campaigner welcomes anti-pokies plan

http://news.smh.com.au/campaigner-welcomes-antipokies-plan/20080313-1z4t.html

Anti-pokies campaigner the Reverend Tim Costello has welcomed the federal government's plan to tackle problem gambling by banning ATMs at pokies venues but warned it faces a long fight.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has signalled a major review of the industry, including spin-loss rates and the introduction of a smart card, in a bid to break gambling addictions.

But Mr Costello, a Baptist Minister and World Vision chief, said it would be big challenge given how much revenue state governments around the country claimed each year from the pokies industry.

"We've got an extraordinary situation in Australia where state governments effectively have this compromised ethical argument that says without pokies revenue we can't run essential services like health or education," Mr Costello told Sky News on Thursday.

"No other jurisdiction in the world says 'We've got to break up families, communities, and create new crops of criminals in order to run essential services.

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Macklin says Coalition failed gamblers

http://news.smh.com.au/macklin-says-coalition-failed-gamblers/20080318-207s.html

Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin has taken the Howard government to task for failing to do enough about problem gambling.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has indicated he has some sympathy with the views of anti-pokies campaigners, such as Nick Xenophon, who will become a South Australian senator on July 1, 2008.

Ms Macklin told parliament that gambling wrecked many lives and caused suffering for many people.