Last year the people of NSW lost $9.3 billion to pokies. Meanwhile mega-clubs with hundreds of poker machines - venues like Bankstown Sports Club with 745 machines and Mounties with 603 - are effectively mini-casinos in the suburbs.
Yet clubs pay far less tax than pubs and get special tax concessions because they’re “not-for-profit”. But many clubs are raking in millions from pokies while giving back a measly couple of percent of their profits to the community. Meanwhile, a Victorian Government’s Social Costs of Gambling report has estimated that for every $1 in tax from poker machine revenue, it costs $6 in social harms including through unpaid debts, bankruptcy, job losses, domestic and family violence, increases in crime to cover debts and even suicide.
Yet, instead of standing up to the industry, Labor is protecting their mates in the powerful clubs industry while delaying any meaningful reform to reduce gambling harm.
It’s time to end the special treatment for clubs. If a club can afford 700 poker machines, it can afford to pay its fair share of tax.