Northern Territory pokies clubs report member perks and lavish upgrades as ‘community’ benefits

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Community clubs in the Northern Territory claim they return millions in pokies profits to the community. But until now, what form those contributions took has been hidden from view. Documents released to the ABC under Freedom of Information laws have revealed many of those reported contributions were actually spent on upgrading the clubs' own hospitality venues and providing free perks for their members.

Transcript

00:00Remembrance Day, a time for solemn reflection, but in Darwin last year it was also a time

00:09for celebration, with the grand opening of the Services Club, rung in by the sound of

00:1440 Poker missions.

00:17We understand there is, you know, socially it's probably not acceptable to a degree anymore,

00:23but it is a very good level of income for the club itself.

00:27Management here says 80% of Poker's profits go to veteran services via the RSL, but other

00:33clubs are not so generous with their gaming revenue.

00:36Not-for-profit clubs with poker machines are required to publicly report their community

00:40contributions, and last financial year the NT's 20 existing clubs claimed they contributed

00:46almost $4 million to worthy causes.

00:49But documents obtained by the ABC reveal, some of those claims are dubious at best.

00:56Silks Darwin claimed $22,000 in donations from patrons through meat trays and other raffles,

01:02and the Nightcliff Sports Club claimed $10,000 in donations to CareFlight and the RSPCA via

01:09collection tins, despite guidelines ruling them ineligible.

01:13Nightcliff Sports Club also claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in community contributions

01:18for money spent upgrading club infrastructure, while other venues claimed for free ice and

01:24members' birthday parties, also in apparent breach of the guidelines.

01:28Reaching out and crying. Desperate.

01:31Psychologist Nicola Coulter works with problem gamblers.

01:35One in 20 Territorians experience gambling harm, you know, so that's probably your brother,

01:40your cousin, it's your workmate. It doesn't end there.

01:44About six other people, and if you're a First Nations person, if you're an Aboriginal person,

01:50that number extends to probably about 15 other people who are experiencing the ripple effect

01:55of the harm. Statistician Matt Stephens says like pubs and casinos, clubs with pokies should

02:01also be forced to pay into the Government's community benefit fund, set up to redistribute

02:07gambling losses via grants.

02:09It's not really costing them any money, so it's not, I wouldn't call that a community

02:14contribution, but it gets counted as an in-kind community contribution when they're filling

02:19out their audit.

02:20Dr Stephens was the lead author on a gambling study released quietly by the NT Government

02:25late last year. It found the Territory has double the national average of problem gamblers

02:31with 4,324 people pumping almost $122 million, or $28,000 each, into the pokies each year.

02:42The latest budget papers also show they poured more than $50 million into NT Government coffers

02:49via a direct tax on poker machines.

02:51If you actually want to reduce harm, they've got to be prepared to reduce the revenue as well.

02:57In a statement, the Nightcliff Sports Club says it's under new management and is

03:01working with the Department to correct previous reporting errors and ensure future compliance.

03:07The Government says forcing clubs to contribute to the Community Benefit Fund would leave some

03:12financial services.

03:13Financially unviable.

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