By Laura Michell
Hume council will work with gaming venues on council-owned or managed land to divest themselves from electronic gaming machines.
The plan is one of a number of future actions the council plans to take to tackle gambling, according to its annual gambling report for 2020-21, which was tabled during a council meeting on Monday, March 15.
According to the report, council, in its capacity as a landlord/licensor, will begin to investigate opportunities with interested gaming venues on land owned or managed by council to rid themselves of poker machines.
Cr Naim Kurt said the move would help council “untangle” itself from electronic gaming machines.
Council will also work with Deakin University on two research projects aimed at investigating the impact of gambling advertising on young people and the impact of gambling sponsorship at a local level.
The report raised concern about an increasing trend in Hume’s poker machine losses compared to other local government areas, noting that the municipality recorded the sixth highest EGM losses in the state in 2018-19, rising to fifth in 2019-20 and fourth in 2020-21.
More than $72 million was lost at Hume gaming venues in 2020-21.
In Sunbury, nearly $5 million was spent across five gaming venues between July 2021 and June 2022.
Councillor Joseph Haweil said the report aimed to raise awareness about the impacts and “staggering losses” of gambling in Hume.
He said he feared the city may soon record the highest pokies losses in the state.
“I am really disappointed to report that Hume city is now the city with the fourth highest losses in the state of Victoria. We are going backwards,” he said.
Cr Haweil said there was a need for greater regulation of the gambling industry.
“We realise that we can’t put the genie back in the bottle … but reasonable things like $1 bets … are not being pursued,” he said.
