Laws to protect problem gamblers from heavy losses would benefit Melbourne’s west, according to experts and Greens MP Colleen Hartland.
The Greens last week introduced legislation to the Victorian Parliament for $1 bet limits on the state’s poker machines, a move recommended by the Productivity Commission.
Ms Hartland said if the bill was passed, it would particularly benefit people in the western suburbs, home to an estimated 40 per cent of the state’s problem gamblers.
“In the western region of Melbourne we have the highest spending per person on poker machines of any region in Victoria. We’re home to 39 per cent of all people calling the Gamblers Helpline.”
A 2012 report by the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission showed that Melbourne’s north-west metro region, at $707, had the highest average annual expenditure on pokies per person across all regions of Victoria.
And at $137.6 million, Brimbank had the highest pokies losses in 2012-13 of all local government areas.
Ms Hartland said that at $2.4 billion, Brimbank also had the second-highest cumulative losses per adult population of any local government area since records began in 1992-3.
She said a $1 limit on bets would be the most straightforward and effective option for limiting the losses of problem gamblers.
“Eighty-eight per cent of recreational gamblers don’t bet more than one dollar per spin, so most punters won’t even notice the change,” Ms Hartland said.
She said financial stress, job loss, family breakdown, crime, depression, and suicide were some of the worst impacts of problem gambling.
A $1 bet limit would limit losses to $120 per hour on average, down from the thousands of dollars an hour currently being lost.
Deakin University Associate Professor of Psychology Nicki Dowling said evidence showed the $1 limit would be likely to stem the losses of problem gamblers without having a negative impact on casual pokies users who tend to bet lower amounts at a time.
