Bulldogs cop blast over pokies plan
http://www.theage.com.au/national/bulldogs-cop-blast-over-pokies-plan-20081224-74rw.html
Bulldogs cop blast over pokies plan
Jason Dowling
December 24, 2008

A Christmas Eve decision by state's gambling regulator to allow the Western Bulldogs Football Club to locate 70 poker machines at its new Club Edgewater development in Maribyrnong has been blasted by the local council.

Maribyrnong Council mayor Michael Clarke said it was a terrible decision for the area.

"We are very disappointed by the decision, that community around that Edgewater district is one of the most vulnerable communities we have in our municipality," he said.

"We have got in excess of 140 poker machines within one kilometre of where they are proposing to put that new facility," he said.

"Maribyrnong loses on average, every man, woman and child, in this city, in excess of $1100 per annum - every man, woman and child," he said.

"That is an enormous loss - I don't lose a dollar on poker machines, my wife and my children don't lose anything on them so there are certain segments of the community that are losing enormous amounts of money - it is terrible," Cr Clarke said.

But Bulldogs president David Smorgon said the decision was a great result and would help secure the financial future of the club.

"I think we made a strong case that we did need a good social venue," he said.

He said the decision will be a boost for the club's financial position and "take some of the heat off".

"From our point of view it was a very good result," he said.

Mr Smorgon had previously warned that the financial future of the Bulldogs was in doubt if it was not able to find a new social and poker machine venue following the redevelopment of the Whitten Oval.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation said 70 machines would be transferred from other gaming venues in Maribyrnong, including the Whitten Oval, which will cease to operate as a gaming venue.

Peter Cohen, executive commissioner of the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation, defended the timing of the decision on Christmas Eve.



"The reason for the timing is that we are conscious there is a planning appeal to VCAT being heard in March on this issue and we wanted the parties to this decision to know as soon as possible what our decision was," he said.

"It was finished today, that was why it was released today," Mr Cohen said.

"We wouldn't hold back a decision for any particular reason," he said.

The commission's chairman, Ian Dunn, said the timing of the commission's decision could save each side to the poker machine dispute $200,000 if it was decided to challenge the decision at VCAT.

He said the poker machine challenge could be added to the planning challenge on the same development that is being heard by the planning tribunal in March.

"We worked extremely hard to get the decision out in the hope that if there is to be an appeal it could be heard at the same time as the planning existing appeal," he said.

Good news I suppose.

I've always maintained the position that nobody forces someone to sit at a poker machine and pump their pension into it. If they decide to do so, they deserve to have no money/food/etc as they are idiots.