Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader
The human misery and poverty caused by poker machines in pubs and clubs shows no sign of abating.
The Liquor and Gaming Commission’s Annual Report confirms Tasmanians lost over $175M to poker machines in the last financial year.
While losses are down marginally on previous years, pokies are still leeching millions from Tasmania’s most disadvantaged communities – and it’s going straight into the pockets of the pokies barons.
The biggest corporate social predator on the scene, the Federal Group, announced recently a doubling of profits. That’s money coming out of the frayed pockets of some of the most socio-economically disadvantaged Tasmanians.
The Liberals’ corrupted souls and addiction to gambling revenue were on full display at the State Election, when they took massive, undisclosed donations from gambling interests.
Tabled by the Treasurer, the Annual Report clearly shows why the pokies barons were willing to flood the Liberal HQ with their rivers of misery money. Their business model relies entirely on preying on disadvantaged Tasmanians.
The Hodgman Liberals obliged by entrenching that disadvantage through policy that would extend the social and economic suffering out to the year 2043.
Poker machine addiction causes deep social harm, with gambling addicts feeding machines before their families. Children suffer the most, going without as a result of these predatory machines in pubs and clubs across the State.
With the gambling monopoly Deed up for variation next year, we hope the Labor Party will stick to their election promise and, should they be given the opportunity, vote to remove poker machines from pubs and clubs. This will save lives and livelihoods