Pubs and clubs ordered to switch off poker machines early as government scraps extended hours grant

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Pubs and clubs will be ordered to switch off their poker machines for six hours from 4am to reduce harm caused by gambling. The government is scrapping the extended hours that had been granted to hundreds of venues across the state.

Transcript

00:00Kate Sisseldja has experienced the harm of poker machine addiction first hand.

00:08Feeding thousands into the machines, she felt all hope drain away.

00:13This is addiction by design.

00:15Nobody ever thinks that this will happen to them.

00:19Nobody ever thinks that they will be sitting there, hour after hour, pouring money into a machine.

00:26In New South Wales, pubs and clubs are meant to shut down their pokies between 4 and 10am.

00:32But over many years, more than 600 venues have been granted exemptions or variations,

00:37including Mounties and Bankstown Sports,

00:40which make some of the highest profits per machine anywhere in the state.

00:44Cutting back on the opening hours is an absolute minimum.

00:51It's been more than a year since an independent panel recommended scrapping the exemptions.

00:56Today, the government's followed through.

00:58But it's giving venues until the end of March to adjust.

01:02You've got to understand, these are businesses,

01:05and you can't just jump in and just cut them off at the throat if you would like.

01:11The government will also let venues apply for new temporary exemptions

01:15if, for example, they're in a tourist zone or if they're experiencing financial hardship.

01:20Frankly, if a club's business model relies on being open at 6am, it shouldn't be open.

01:27The default six-hour shutdown won't apply to the star.

01:31It's in a special category and can remain open 24-7.

01:35Wesley Mission estimates gamblers are losing a million dollars an hour on the state's pokies.

01:41While these changes will reduce the window for potential losses,

01:45the government's reluctant to close it any further.

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