Elsie Lange
Hume broke records with more than $12.5 million spent on electronic gaming machines (EGMs) in December 2021, the largest expenditure in the region in almost two decades.
According to data from the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC), the local government area reached a peak of $12,545,741 gambling losses at the end of last year, before dropping back to $10,801,325 in January 2022.
Alliance for Gambling Reform chief advocate Tim Costello told Star Weekly the $23.5 million lost to poker machines in Hume over the course of December and January meant more than $100 lost per person in the region.
“[It’s] a sobering reminder of just how dangerous this predatory industry is to our safety and wellbeing,” Reverend Costello said.
“Records were broken across the state with $250 million being lost by Victorians in December alone.
“Many of the LGAs with the highest losses are also some of the most stressed communities in our state. Families across Victoria are being shamelessly preyed on by corporations looking to make a quick buck,” he said.
Peter Donlon, Board Chair of Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health, said it was their duty as a health service to take a leadership role as an “outspoken opponent” of poker machines in the community.
“The availability of gaming machines has been shown to have a direct link to a range of individual and community harms including the increase in high-risk gambling, poor physical and mental health and an increase in family violence.
“We strongly believe that the limited and often overstated economic benefits of gaming machines are far outweighed by the financial burden gambling places upon vulnerable individuals and groups within our community,” he said.
Two Hume hotels were in the top 10 venues with the largest EGM spends in the state between June and December last year: the Gladstone Park Hotel ($5,635,242) and the Roxburgh Park Hotel ($5,625,072).
The council area ranked fourth across the state for pokies spending in December 2021, as well as fourth statewide between July 2021 and January 2022.
Hume community services director Hector Gaston said the council actively works alongside organisations, peak bodies and state and federal governments to minimise the harms of gambling, recognising the need to reduce the number of EGMs across Victoria.
“In 2019 Hume City Council adopted its Gambling Harm Minimisation Policy, which informs council’s public health approach in minimising the negative impacts from gambling on Hume communities,” Mr Gaston said.
“Council also has ongoing collaborations with members of various gambling associations and networks, including the Alliance for Gambling Reform, the Victorian Local Governance Association and Municipal Association for Victoria.”
Mr Gaston said Hume would continue to implement its Gambling Harm Minimisation Policy in response to recent gambling losses.
“And will remain committed to creating a city that supports the health and wellbeing of its residents,” Mr Gaston said.
