Gambling — corporations move in for kill

by Peter Mac

Australia is now the world's third-biggest gambling market. 
Punters lose $14 billion per annum. We have the world's worst 
problem gamblers, and on average we lose $1000 p.a. per person. 
That's more than any in other country, twice as bad as in the US 
or Britain. And major international corporations are now 
concentrating on this most parasitic area of profit-taking.

Pokies: taxing the problem, not tackling it

Poker machines are the fastest-growing, and some say the most 
socially destructive area of gambling addiction.

NSW now has one quarter of all poker machines on earth. The Carr 
Government proposes to increase the tax rate on them, much to the 
horror of the registered clubs. However, the Government's motive 
seems to be financial gain rather than social responsibility.

If the Carr Government really wanted to reduce poker machine 
misery, it would give serious consideration to the introduction 
of a pokie credit card, an idea floated by an Australian 
academic.

Such a card could only be used on poker machines, and its credit 
would be limited to an amount specified by the player prior to 
the commencement of play.

For many players the poker machine environment induces a trance-
like state in which they lose their sense of time and loss. Many 
players would avoid crippling losses by initially specifying the 
loss limit for play, when their thinking was relatively clear.

Needless to say, the clubs are vigorously opposed to introduction 
of such a scheme, and the State Government just doesn't seem 
interested.

Racking up the profits

The gambling industry in South Australia wants to introduce a new 
sort of card to South Australian supermarkets and grocery stores 
— the "deli" card. People purchasing groceries at certain stores 
would score "loyalty" points that give them credit in poker 
machine rooms.

This completely contradicts the SA hotel and club industry Code 
of Practice. The code is, of course, entirely voluntary!

In 2000 in South Australia, ten machines in caused losses of 
$1,982,431.

One poker machine alone creamed off $221,567 from hapless 
punters. As anti-gambling industry MP Nick Xenophon has pointed 
out, this equals the average mortgage repayments of 210 
households for one year, the total yearly clothing and footwear 
expenditure for 150 households, or the yearly medical and health 
care expenses for 135 households.

The 2000 Productivity Com-mission report on gambling revealed 
that problem gamblers incurred 42.3 percent of all losses on 
poker machines. In South Australia alone there are some 25,000 
significant problem gamblers and the machines are the main 
problem for between 65 and 85 percent of them.

The only thing that has led to a momentary fall in poker machine 
profits in recent years has been the introduction of anti-smoking 
regulations. This initially led to players leaving the club to 
smoke outside, whereupon their thoughts would clarify and many 
would then leave the club.

The clubs responded by building special glassed-in smoking rooms, 
from which the poker machines were fully visible and could be 
heard clearly. Now the smokers don't have to exit the club 
buildings and their gambling pattern is preserved.

Like the cigarette companies, the clubs never admit they've done 
anything to contribute to the addiction of their customers. 
However, many Australian casinos are moving to increase their 
poker machines numbers, as the machines offer higher profit 
potential than other forms of gambling. Casino profits have risen 
by 19 per cent to $537 million.

The threat from the net

There are proposals to introduce internet gambling in Australia. 
This has the potential to wreak havoc with the lives of ordinary 
Australian families. Anti-gambling industry campaigner Tim 
Costello once described this insidious new innovation as "a way 
for people to remain in their house — and lose it over the phone 
lines".

It would also cause major economic damage to the corporations 
that have taken over the formerly state-run TAB agencies. 
Internet gambling was first introduced in the United Kingdom some 
three years ago. The British internet exchange system Betfair now 
handles 50 million pounds (approx A$125m) of bets each week, and 
the traditional betting establishments have dwindled.

Betfair wants a licence to operate here. So far, however, the 
Howard Government has not approved its formal introduction to 
Australia. This is very much a matter of doing the right thing 
for the wrong reasons. The government benefits massively from 
taxes on gambling profits. In fact, gambling now contributes some 
$5 billion in a variety of taxes around the nation.

Internet gambling, on the other hand, has been described as "one 
of the world's biggest sources of untaxed and untraceable 
income". A recent study estimated that for every one percent of 
gambling money that shifted from traditional gambling forms to 
internet exchanges, Australian governments would lose $5.2 
million per annum, and the racing industry would also lose $5.4 
million p.a.

Because of the threatened tax losses, combined with powerful 
lobbying from the gambling industry, the Australian Government 
has refused to approve the formal introduction of internet 
gambling. But who knows for how long?

The jobs issue

Gambling corporations often cite the threat to their employees' 
jobs as justification for banning internet exchange gambling. 
However, their own statements reveal their total lack of concern 
for their employees' jobs.

For example, Tabcorp has recently been involved in a purchase bid 
for the casino and hotel operator Jupiters Ltd. Tabcorp 
representatives claimed that if the deal had gone ahead, the 
merged company could have expected an extra $10.2 million in 
profits because of "rationalisation" of the firm's office, 
administrative and finance sections, together with post-merger 
"integration" .

In short, they'd have sacked many of their staff.

Mind you, Jupiters themselves are not concerned about keeping 
people in work. The Queensland firm UNiTAB (formerly TAB 
Queensland) is also bidding for Jupiters, and last week a UNiTAB 
spokesman claimed that Jupiters had suggested a recapitalisation 
scheme that would have involved the merged entity sacking people 
in order to pay the interest bill on Jupiters' hefty debts.

Nor is UNiTAB concerned with retaining people in employment. One 
of the firm 's spokesmen commented that they had rejected 
Jupiters' plan because "We just weren't prepared to merge with a 
company that was so indebted."

However, the gambling group Tab Ltd. (formerly the NSW TAB) is 
now bidding for UNiTAB itself, and their eyes are also on 
"rationalising" staff numbers. As one commen-tator put it 
enthusiastically, "By amalgamating operations there are 
opportunities to generate cost savings and greater cash flows for 
shareholders".

UNiTAB workers have demanded that the TAB/UNiTAB deal not result 
in redundancies or loss of worker entitlements.

Back to the grim future

The various state-run Totalisator Agency Boards were established 
with a view to eliminating SP bookie corruption. However, in the 
1990s the state governments sold the TAB organisations off, 
thereby legitimising the insatiable greed of the private 
operators.

The gambling corporations are not concerned about retaining 
employees, or about the well-being of their patrons. They're 
simply concerned to maximise profits, regardless of the misery 
they cause in the process.

A case in point

The following story was told to the Guardian by a Party 
supporter. There are thousands of such stories, and there'll be 
thousands more if the gambling corporations introduce new and 
more extensive forms of gambling.

Sally, an aged care worker, married Tom, a process worker, in the 
late 1970s. After their daughter was born he'd often come home 
broke. When he started visiting the club in the evenings she 
realised what the problem was. There were terrible arguments but 
he just couldn't kick the habit.

Sally returned to work to support the family. Eventually the 
marriage broke up. Tom, a heavy drinker, died a few years later.

Twenty years on, having brought up the child and paid off the 
house, Sally commenced a new relationship with Adam, an engineer.

Things were blissful until she realised Adam was also a problem 
gambler. This time Sally insisted on accompanying Adam to make 
sure he didn't blow all his cash at the club.

What she hadn't counted on was that she herself would get hooked. 
She soon found herself slipping coins into the machines, and her 
meagre budget nose dived. "I never thought it would happen to 
me", she says bitterly.

Despite three years of therapy Sally is still addicted. Nothing 
seems to work and she is seriously considering leaving the 
country. She copes by avoiding clubs like the plague. "If I'm 
walking past a club, I'll deliberately cross over the street then 
back again, to avoid going past the doors", she says.

Sally couldn't support Adam, and their relationship ended.

Sally says: "I don't mind people having the odd bet if it's just 
a bit of fun. But it's the poker machine industry I can't stand 
now. How can they say they're helping the community when the 
community is sick of them? I just hate the bastards."