Politicians in the Australian Capital Territory have offered restaurants and clubs the opportunity to sell their slot machines in exchange for AU$15,000 per ‘authorisation’ as long as the money goes towards retaining and supporting staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ACT has been committed to reducing the number of slot machines in the Territory to 4,000 units. It is estimated that $34.2m is spent daily on slot machines throughout Australia and Australians spent more than $12.5m on poker machines in clubs and pubs alone in 2017-18.
The ACT Government, led by Andrew Barr, said: “The government will provide further support to community clubs and Casino Canberra, to enable them to keep staff employed as they adjust to the physical distancing measures. Measures include providing gaming machine licensees with the opportunity to access a payment of $15,000 per authorisation if they voluntarily surrender gaming machine authorisations.”
It has also been announced that the ACT will waiver or refund gaming machine tax liabilities for clubs for March 2020 gaming activity, for clubs that pay monthly, or gaming activity in the first quarter of 2020 for clubs that pay tax quarterly.
Furthermore, the ACT confirmed that Casino Canberra will not have to pay its annual licence fee and gaming tax liabilities for March 2020.
Rebecca Vassarotti, a former member of the Board of the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission, said: “The recently announced ACT Government package of support to the clubs sector included an offer to ACT-based clubs to receive financial compensation if they surrender additional poker machine licences.
“While this proposal is currently capped at 250 machines, if expanded, this is a realistic pathway for ACT Clubs to rebuild their businesses in a way that divests from a revenue base built on the back of harm caused to individuals, families and communities. This should be explored as a mechanism for local venues to totally divest from operating poker machines.”
Vassarotti went on to claim that the government to work with the local clubs sector to ‘protect local worker and enable clubs to fulfil their valued roles,’
The Alliance for Gambling Reform has also launched a petition calling on the state governments to introduce similar offers as part of the coronavirus stimulus packages.
Reverend Dr Tim Costello, the chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, stated he is ‘completely behind’ the move by the ACT, he added: “What a visionary policy. The ACT government has seized the unique opportunity presented by this crisis to truly consider what its economy and community could look like as things return to ‘normal’, or what will undoubtedly be a ‘new normal’.
“Its move recognises that the purpose of any bailout or stimulus right now is to keep Australians in work, but in the long run its buyback scheme provides an important opportunity to build long-term resilience in its community by reducing gambling harm.”