Mapping Tasmanian poker machine losses at the local level
Last financial year Tasmanians lost a staggering $114 million on poker machines in local hotels and clubs. Around further $80 million was lost on poker machines located in the state’s two casinos and on the Spirit of Tasmania ferries. Similar annual figures have been recorded for the past several years.
But what does this mean in real terms in our local communities? SARC has taken poker machine data for 2014–2015 provided by the Tasmanian Gaming Commission and mapped it to Tasmania’s 29 municipalities.
By mapping the number of machines and annual losses per adult in each municipality, we can see that some communities are disproportionately affected by the presence of poker machines. For example, due to the sheer concentration of machines in the municipalities of Devonport, Launceston and Glenorchy, these communities combined lose $50 million a year to poker machines — nearly half of the total losses by all Tasmanians to poker machines located in hotels and clubs.
In 16 out of 29 municipalities across Tasmania, each poker machine annually earns as much or more than the average local wage. For example in Glenorchy, each poker machine “earns” $74,496 per year, almost twice the average wage for the area.
Poker machines are rigged to win, and designed to addict people to this type of gambling. Approximately 2,500 Tasmanians are experiencing harm caused by addiction to poker machines, and they account for about a third of all losses to poker machines. At local level, this tells a story of considerable personal and community suffering. For each person directly harmed by poker machine gambling, there are between 5–10 other people around them affected by the resulting financial hardship and poverty, family stress and breakdown, job loss and even homelessness.
The local losses to poker machines is also money foregone by local businesses through money not spent on entertainment, dining, services and in local retail. Instead money lost to poker machines flows out of our communities as profit for a select few businesses, and as tax revenue to the Tasmanian Government. We can now see that some communities in Tasmania are seeing significant loss of money from poker machines, and that state government revenue and private profits from poker machines are coming disproportionately from certain local government areas.
SARC has been undertaking research and providing critical information to government on the individual and community harm caused by poker machines since their introduction into hotels and clubs. Our work has for years shown that poker machines disproportionately affect people on low incomes. For more information on SARC’s work into the impacts and consequences of poker machine gambling and our government submissions see our research and publications library.
