Gambling rose $40m after stimulus: clubs

29 January 2009 | 05:34:13 PM| Source: AAP

Gaming revenue in NSW clubs last December - the same month the federal government's economic stimulus package kicked in - was $40 million higher than December 2007, Clubs NSW says.

The Daily Telegraph reported an additional $500 million had been injected into poker machines last month - a figure Clubs NSW spokesman Jeremy Bath said was misleading.

He said government figures show poker machine turnover for December was $5.259 billion, but that only equated to an increase in player spending of $40 million.

"Turnover is a nothing number because it simply measures the same amount of money gambled over and over again through the machine," he said.

Mr Bath agreed money put into poker machines in NSW clubs, hotels and the casino last December would have partly come from the stimulus package, but that other factors also needed to be taken into consideration.

He cited state government figures showing revenue had increased by $40 million in December 2008, but said that was above the dismal figures for 2007.

December 2007 "was the worst period in NSW club history", Mr Bath said.

"It was just after the indoor smoking ban started."

Mr Bath said clubs across NSW had still earned $8 million less in December 2008 than they did in December 2006.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said he believed most people had spent the government's economic stimulus package wisely.

"The evidence from Woolworths just yesterday shows that there was a very significant impact on spending on the basics of life, such as school shoes, socks and jocks, polo shirts and so on," he told ABC Radio.

"I think the evidence tends to indicate that many Australians spent the economic stimulus package responsibly, and the benefit of that has been increased security and employment for many Australians."

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