31 July 2006

Stanhope stands up for the poker machines

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times reports that despite the ACT having nearly twice the national average of poker machines per capita, our Chief Minister thinks his “targeted harm minimisation” strategy is better than just reducing the numbers of machines around the place.

I’d like to believe him, it’s such a pity he’s a direct beneficiary (via donations to his re-election from the licensed clubs) of the human misery caused by gaming machines.

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Maybe a public nuiscance campaign is in order. I seem to remember the havoc created one night in a certain club after a liberal amount of super glue was applied to all bill slots and coin slots (of the machines, not the tradesman in said clubs, mind you that could be fun too).

Dont forget the hand dryers, they dont like those being removed either.

There has always been a direct conflict of interest for the Labor Party on this matter whenever it makes it to the Assembly. They receive a large cash injection for their political campaigns via the pokies. How can they be taken seriously on this issue?

OpenYourMind5:15 pm 01 Aug 06

What annoys me is the claim by clubs that the money is put back into ‘The Community’. This can mean just about anything. One thing is for sure, ‘The Community’ suffers all the social problems of gambling addicts, but ‘The Community’ won’t get a say in where the club’s money is spent.

From what I have heard, money from the Southern Cross Club gets channelled into a number of Catholic groups and causes such as ‘Right to Life’.

Having driven a cab for a few years, I recall how tragic it was seeing pensioners who were gambling addicts.

Absent Diane5:09 pm 01 Aug 06

pokies must die

ahh the dogs. many a hangover was derived from putting a sneaky fiver on some random somehwere.

The gambling junkies can play dice in the back alleys. And we can go back to getting fifty’s out of atms.

with unemployment at 2% ther has never been a better time to rid ourselves of poker machines.

sure, some clubs may close, but people would not become jobless.

if stanhope said to the public – if they go, we need to tighten our belts a little for x years, then i think the public would accept that.

of course, this will never happen unless you vote 1 bonfire.

But the clubs? What about the clubs?

And what will our army of gambling addicts do when they are bereft of a place to deposit their welfare money?

Smash the pokies. problem solved. easy

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