More than $220 million was pumped through poker machines in state electorates across Brimbank last financial year.
A report released last week by Monash University researcher Charles Livingstone shows that disadvantaged areas on Melbourne’s fringe have high levels of loss.
Brimbank’s biggest spend was in the electorate of Derrimut – which includes Albion, Derrimut and sections of St Albans and Sunshine – where $63.50 million was pumped through 439 gaming machines at seven venues.
Dr Livingstone said there was a correlation between gambling losses and the number of gaming machines in disadvantaged areas.
There was a need to reduce the size of gaming venues and restrict the amount of money people could gamble to make pokies “harmless fun”, he said.
“What we have got in suburban pokies venues … is machines where you can easily lose $600 an hour. There should be maximum bets of $1, limiting losses to $120 per hour. We need to look at solutions, and there are suggestions $1 bets are the way to go.”
Monash University’s research showed punters in the electorate of Niddrie spent $41.20 million on 261 machines across four venues.
More than $42.14 million was put through 301 machines at four venues in Keilor; $39.14 million in seven venues across 407 machines in Melton; and $20.34 million on 181 machines at three venues in Kororoit. More than $4.65 million was spent at the Braybrook Hotel, which had a recent application for 19 more machines rejected.
In August, the Weekly revealed there had been an almost $8 million drop in annual pokies expenditure in the municipality of Brimbank. Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation figures showed $137.63 million was lost last financial year, down from $145.61 million in 2011-12.
