Brimbank council is backing an open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calling for gambling reform.
The council is a member of the Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR), which has joined forces with Senator Nick Xenophon and Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie in calling for a ban on sports betting ads screened during family TV timeslots.
It also wants legislation that limits poker machines to a maximum of $1 bets and a loss limit of $120 an hour.
Brimbank has been the state’s leading loser on poker machines for the past nine consecutive years with $143million lost in the past financial year.
Chair of administrators John Watson has in the past said the state government is as addicted to poker machine windfalls as players are to their quest to win.
Administrator Jane Nathan said at last week’s council meeting it was time “to say we need to do things differently”.
AGR’s open letter – to Mr Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten – said both leaders “have an opportunity to make a difference”.
“These (proposals) are the first steps towards reducing the devastation caused by gambling harm in Australia,” it read.
Mr Xenophon and Mr Wilkie are to move a motion in both Houses of Parliament this week to ban sports betting advertising during “G-rated family viewing times”.
