MP Wants UK FOBT-Style Changes in Australia

This story was published more than 5 years ago.

A day after the United Kingdom approved of slashing the maximum bet on fixed odds betting terminals to £2, an Australian MP wants to bring those same regulations to his country.

MP Andrew Wilkie made clear his desire to bring the stricter laws against pokie machines, which he claims preys on those vulnerable in society. He has tried to introduce different measures over the years, but noted that many of his fellow lawmakers don't share his same concern for the machines. He said that lawmakers should take the UK regulation steps as a wakeup call, especially given that Australians are the biggest losers in terms of gambling.

Speaking to ABC News Wilkie said, "The Federal Government has it within its power to legislate for $1 maximum bets, as well as other harm minimization measures like mandatory pre-commitment. Unfortunately, the Government has shown itself to be thoroughly uninterested when it comes to reining in poker machines."

Whether or not these changes actually take place is up for debate, but Casino Listings News will keep up on the story and will update readers as we learn more.

About the author

Jeremy Wilson // Senior Editor
Jeremy Wilson
Jeremy has senior editorial responsibilities across all areas of the site. He lives in Sydney, Australia and has been working with Casino Listings in various roles since its inception in 2007. His go-to game is Blackjack.
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bgsharpe
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22 May 2018 - 6:13pm
#1

They in Australia should definitely do the same as in the UK I think, at least lowered to some point even if the stake is not so low as in the UK, especially after reading this;

Quote:

... that Australians are the biggest losers in terms of gambling.

How we could explain that Ed? Too stubborn of a nation?

auCL-Ed
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23 May 2018 - 5:43am
#2

That is a huge question. You have to understand that the companies that own the poker machines are extremely rich and powerful. Two of the major ones own Australia's two biggest supermarket chains: Coles and Woolworths. They also own a large percentage of Australian pubs and are accustomed to earning huge profits on the poker machines that they put in the pubs. Same for licensed clubs and other venues that have grown almost entirely dependent on the games to subsidise the rest of their operations.

So while there is a lot of support in the community for measures such as lowering the maximum bet, there is considerable opposition to it with very deep pockets and I am sure that you can imagine which side of that debate governments are more likely to listen to. An interesting point is also that this group of vested interests campaigned heavily against online gambling which resulted in recent efforts to enforce the laws here that had been ignored for about a decade. Let's just say that they were not motivated by altruism or protection of citizens.

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bgsharpe
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23 May 2018 - 12:37pm
#3
CL-Ed wrote:

Let's just say that they were not motivated by altruism or protection of citizens.

Yeah I get that now but isn't it the end result the most important thing here and even if the max stake being lowered due to a financial interests it's still could be a good thing for the punters?!
Otherwise I could imagine how tough it could of be to get a 'sober' decisions after a fey drinks in the pub playing the machines.