At-a-glance: Pokies reform laws

1 Nov 2012, 3:05 pm   -   Source: SBS staff
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Federal laws to curb poker machine addiction have been introduced into parliament. Here is a summary of what they entail.

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The federal government's long-delayed laws to try to cut destructive poker machine addiction have finally been introduced into parliament. Here is a summary of what they entail.

SELF-IMPOSED PRE-COMMITMENT UNTIL 2016

Pre-commitment on pokies means players set the limit for how much they can lose. It is self-imposed rather than mandatory.

All poker machines manufactured or imported by December 31, 2013 are to support pre-commitment, which will require gamblers to set the amount of money they are willing to lose.

All poker machines are to be part of a state-wide pre-commitment system by December 31 2016. Small venues will have longer implementation times.

ACT TO HOST TRIALS

The bills will allow stalled negotiations for an ACT trial of gaming machine mandatory pre-commitment technology to restart.

An independent review of ACT trial of mandatory pre-commitment technology will be conducted by the Productivity Commission.

ATM CASH LIMIT IN GAMBLING VENUES

A $250-a-day withdrawal limit will be placed on ATMs at pokie premises, with exemptions for casinos and clubs in small communities where alternative cash outlets aren't easily available, from May 2, 2013.

NEW LEVIES

The government will also put money aside for the establishment of a National Gambling Research Commission. The centre will cost $1.5 million a year and commence in July 2013.

The costs of the new system will be partly offset by two new levies - a supervisory levy and a gaming machine regulation levy. The cost of the former will be set by regulation while the machine levy will be based on a formula that takes in the revenue earned by each individual machine.

The legislation is likely to pass parliament next year.

Pokies Reform

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Your Comments

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Otto - from Largs Bay, 7 months ago

Here i am lisenning to al the lies of goverment und Publicans and pokermachine lobby. Do they know that they are killing peopel in spirit soul and body and one day will be jugement day for the Licourlicencingboard ,as it was with the tobaccocompanies. Who are the thievsand robbers. Goverment lies with 85% return on gambling,as Pokermachinelobby and ruthless Publicans who watch peopel loosing all their wages ,Pensions and Dole. So they can afford a luxurious life. Responsible gambling ,

Token pokie reforms

Kate Sommerville - from Melbourne, 7 months ago

The ideal reform would be to impose maximum bets of $1.00. So simple yet so difficult. This would ideally happen alongside a process of limiting availability of pokies by restricting hours of opening, numbers of venues and so on I doubt that the proposed reforms will have more than symbolic impact. Victoria has had ATM withdrawal limits of $200 for some time and no ATMs at all in Venues since July 2012. No noticeable impact on overall losses and other impacts not yet evaluated.

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