They are bright, colourful, enticing, and have the ability to completely ruin your life. Electronic Gaming Machines or Pokies are a powerful and highly addictive gambling outlet that have had disastrous impacts on its users since its integration to Victoria in the early 90’s.
The Western Melbourne Local Government Area of Brimbank knows about pokies and their dangers all too well, toping the state for over a decade in pokies losses, with the issue only continuing to fester.
Brimbank consists of 25 suburbs stretching from Sunshine West to Sydenham, this 123km stretch of land looses around half a million dollars a day to these poker machines, and have had a total of 1.4 billion dollars lost over the decade they have held this unenviable title.
With the allowance for the number of pokies machines in Brimbank being 953, this has been used to 100% of its capacity, with 5.6 pokies machines available per 1000 individuals in Brimbank, this being higher than any three areas behind.
Member for Malvern Michael O’Brien, former gambling minister, identifies that this is a complex and difficult issue to combat, due to the fine line between adult autonomy and protecting those who might be a danger to themselves.
“One of those choices adults are allowed to make is whether or not to gamble, they can bet on horses or buy lottery tickets, but I sympathise with those who pick the pokies as their poison.”
Michael O’Brien MP
With this not a new problem facing this local government, why has nothing been doen to combat its devastating impact?
The Brimbank councils introduction of an Electronic Gaming Policy in 2019 was seen to be a large step forward in attempting to both lower the overall losses in the area, as well as assisting those vulnerable individuals who are at a greater risk for gambling addiction.
However, this policy, whilst being in action for seven years, has had no reprise on the stronghold that these machines continue to have on Brimbank and its citizens, with annual losses continuing to climb and profits of venues housing pokies only growing.
The contrast between other areas of Melbourne, like Port Phillip, who only possess ten venues with poker machines, house substantially minimal losses when compared to Brimbank, further upholding the idea that the only remedy to poker machine abuse is their removal from venues.
Owner of the Emerald Hotel in South Melbourne, Andrew Lewis, detests the pokies and all that they stand for, saying that the safety of his patrons is much more valuable than any profit he could make from gaming machines.
“But if I walked into some of these venues that have pokies and turned them off at the switchboard, they’d struggle in business. Because they’ve lost sight of the bigger picture which is hospitality.”
With large scale change no closer than in previous years, this West Melbourne area continues to be a hotspot for addiction and loss, where the local and state government are needed more than ever to step in to protect its residents from further harm.
