In testimony before the Victoria senate on Sept 11 representatives of Anglicare Victoria and the Diocese of Melbourne’s Social Responsibilities Committee (SRC) told a government panel investigation the social effects of video poker machines that the proliferation of the devices had had a corrosive effect on society. They urged the government to impose strict regulations on the use and distribution of the machines.

It objected to claims put forward by the gaming industry that poker machines were a form of “healthy family recreation,” arguing that the industry’s practice of placing the machines in low-income neighbourhoods and rural areas had led to the “harm and dysfunction experienced throughout the community as a result of excessive gambling.”

“The grim reality,” the diocese said in a statement released before the hearings, was “that thousands of people nationwide spend more on gaming machines than on food or rent.”

The Victoria government’s reliance on taxes from poker machines was morally and economically unhealthy, church leaders said. “State Governments, which have been receiving a significant proportion of their total income directly from taxes raised through poker machines, are open to accusations of exploiting those in our communities who can least afford it. This is morally unjustifiable,” the Rev Graham Reynolds, deputy chairman of the SRC, said.

Mark Longmuir of Anglicare told Anglican Media Melbourne it had fallen to the social service agencies to clean up the mess left by gambling. “Pokies” --- the slang term for the poker machines -- may provide short term economic benefits for clubs and pubs, Mr Longmuir said, “but the long-term damage to our communities far outweighs these financial aspects.”



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