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Rugby league’s hospital pass on pokie reforms

Jenny Macklin

by Jenny Macklin

05 Jul 05:40am

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Filed under: Nrl, Pokie Reforms, Pokies, Society, Sport

41 comments

Like a lot of parents I have spent my fair share of cold and wintry days on the side of a football field.

Not an entirely natural fit but Steve Mortimer looks convinced. Photo: Pellegrini

I’m also a Victorian, so the shape of the football is a bit different, but the rite of passage – staffing the barbeque, cutting the oranges and sharing the thrills and spills – is a common experience for families across the country.

Game to game, season to season, drinking tea out of a thermos and hearing the coach’s gospel recited over the dinner table, the parents and the kids form a bond.

The footy club provides a platform for this bond, for this community. It also teaches our kids some valuable lessons – fair play, working together and backing your team-mates.

So it doesn’t make sense to me that the same clubs that bring us together are arguing for a business model based on profiting from peoples’ misery. No parent I shared those Saturday mornings with would support having another family’s misery pay for their footy team.

I was disappointed to see media reports this week about a campaign from the National Rugby League (NRL) and Clubs Australia on the Government’s proposed gambling reforms.

Our reforms are about playing fair – finding the balance between a friendly flutter and the kind of gambling addiction that divides parents and their kids, or throws away the family budget so there’s no money left to pay sport registration fees or take the kids to the footy.

We’re proposing the introduction of pre-commitment technology to pokie machines – so before you sit down at the machine you nominate how much you’re willing to lose, set a limit you can afford – and then stick to it.

It’s not about the Government controlling peoples’ money – in fact, quite the opposite. You set the limit. You are in control – and for problem gamblers, they can use pre-commitment to help control of their addiction.

One in six people who play the pokies regularly has a serious addiction. Gambling problems affect many people in our community – including the fans, players and patrons of rugby league.

The NRL and Clubs Australia have said this week that they will lose money because of these changes. Clubs that do not rely on profit from the pockets of pokie addicts have nothing to fear.

Football clubs play a valuable role in our community. And responsible gambling is entirely legitimate – it’s also a legitimate source of revenue for clubs. But rugby league should not rely on money from the pockets of problem gamblers to survive.

The NRL has been around for a lot longer than poker machines and I have no doubt it will continue to flourish as it has for the last 100 years.

We don’t want to stand at the sidelines and watch our kids tackle high. And we shouldn’t stand by and let pokie addicts pay for NRL clubs. That’s not fair play.

Most commented

41 comments

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    • Luke says:

      05:48am | 05/07/11

      “But rugby league should not rely on money from the pockets of problem gamblers to survive”.
      Does your Government take money from problem gamblers? does your Government take money from alcoholics? does your Government take money from people addicted to nicotine?

      Reply

    • S.L says:

      06:24am | 05/07/11

      Great reply Luke. It’s the pot calling the kettle black there!

    • dovif says:

      08:19am | 05/07/11

      Luke

      Agree completely, what is next?

      Is this government going to tell us how much alcohol I can consume? Is this government going to limit the cigarette a person smokes?
      Is this government going to monitor us when we go to Las Vegas to limit our losses to $20

      Yes there are problem gamblers, there are also problem drinkers, smokers, coffee drinkers, drug users, people who spend too much time going out rather then studying, people who watches too much sports. Where is this government going to draw the line.

      Should we be having a $20 limit on all tab punter, centrebet punters, Melbourne cup punter?

      When will they stop trying to control our lives.

      I have no issues with jnr league being funded by pokies profit, it keep club staff in a job, it means parents can afford to send kids to jnr league/soccer etc. It also means they can afford uniform etc.

      How much can a government stuff up? it seem to be the MO of this government to do something first and then think of the consequences later, be it changing border protection laws, live cattle ban, pink bats rort, green loan rort, malaysian/indonesian/east timor solutions, carbon tax.

      When are they going to think before actually doing something stupid

    • Mitch says:

      12:09pm | 05/07/11

      Luke although I don’t know about gambling the amount of public money lost from health costs and lower productivity due to smoking and alcohol far outweighs the amount gained through tax.

    • acotrel says:

      12:35pm | 05/07/11

      Andrew Wilkie should recognise ’ you cannot buck the system’ and give up!
      A few unrelated facts:
      When Kennett became Premier of Victoria, he closed several schools, and mental hopspitals at a time when drug usage was incrreasing dramatically.
      Kennett built a casino, the tendering process was suspect.
      There has been a noticable increase if the visibility of organised crime!
      Christine Nixon became Police Commisioner, gor rid of a lot of corrupt policemen in country towns and elsewhere, and had problems with the union.  Simon Overland carried on with her approach, and finally had to resign.

      You don’t have to be Einstein to work out that it’s all about big money!

    • Shifter says:

      12:46pm | 05/07/11

      @Luke - does your rugby league club create and pay for welfare services to help problem gamblers, alcoholics and people addicted to nicotine?

      This is actually an honest question. If they do, then good on them.

      It should be noted that government levies and taxes go to things that benefit the broad community, including welfare to support those trapped by addiction.

      @dovif - sporting clubs in Western Australia seem to manage without the need to have poker machine lined sections of their clubrooms. It is done through a mix of sponsorship and grass-roots fundraising. it means parents can afford to send kids to jnr league/soccer etc. It also means they can afford uniform etc.

      Without pokies.

      Why cannot other sporting clubs in other states survive without them?

    • Kassandra says:

      01:21pm | 05/07/11

      Agree Luke.

      The govt should get serious and put serious limits on pokies (and other gambling). Not ban it, limit it. Like get rid of “high intensity” machines altogether instead of pussy-footing around with them, cap the number of machines per venue and the number of venues per 100,000 population etc. And for God’s sake get it off the TV. Please.

    • William says:

      06:40am | 05/07/11

      Admit it Macklin, your only doing it because Independent Wilkie told you that you have to do it. Just like the crazy Greens told Gillard she has to impose a carbon tax on Australia if she wants to be PM.
      Desperate to hold onto power and desperate for the PM’s job at any cost and no consideration for the people of this country.
      You gutless goons will pay at the next election.

      Reply

    • Jane says:

      09:15am | 05/07/11

      These arrogant boofheads think we’re all stupid. Here we have Macklin now masquerading as the moral pillar because she has no choice but to do as she’s told by Wilkie. More Hysterical B/S from a stuffed Government.

    • Dan says:

      07:10am | 05/07/11

      It’s really the state governments that have to do something about poker machines. It is they who are so addicted to the revenue the machines produce that they can’t function without it. By the way, who wrote the headline for this post? Anyone who knows anything about the game of Rugby League knows it’s not referred to as ‘Rugby’. That’s the 15-a-side game. I thought a News Ltd sub would know this considering their employer owns the game.

      Reply

    • n_dude says:

      05:24pm | 05/07/11

      You’re right, but macklin is from Melbourne where they no nothing else but Aussie Rules

    • Peter says:

      07:12am | 05/07/11

      This proposed legislation will not impact on me directly as, apart from the odd Lotto ticket and scratchie, I don’t gamble.
      However, I find that this is just another intrusion into the freedoms that we once enjoyed. The ability to take responsibility for our own actions.
      What will the next step be? Will I have to pre-commit to the amount I spend on drinks when I visit a pub or club?
      What other part of my life is the government planning to control?
      To be fair, Andrew Wilkie has the minority Labor/Greens coalition by the short and curlies on this issue and the government is only playing along so as to not lose his support. But at what price?
      Grow some balls, stand up to Wilkie, stand up to the Greens and your government will gain some respect.
      As it is you lot are a running joke!

      Reply

    • Chris_D says:

      08:04am | 05/07/11

      What drivel! 

      I’m pretty sure the NRL has some beer and spirit manufacturers as sponsors too.  Would you suggest they are responsible for problem drinking too?

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      09:58pm | 05/07/11

      Motor sport no longer seeks or allows sponsorship/advertising from tobacco manufacturers!

    • Macca says:

      08:19am | 05/07/11

      Typical from this government. Rather than engage Gallop and consult on how these changes will impact on the NRL, Macklin writes an opinion piece on why she is correct and why the NRL is wrong.

      The challenges facing the NRL are different to almost every other code as the Leagues and Juniors Clubs (not the teams, the bar, pokies, entertainment type of club) provide neccesary revenue to the professional franchises.

      Peter Holmes a Court has been trying for years to rid Souths and it’s affiliates of pokies with minimal success. The arrogance of Macklin that she believes she has the solution is typical

      Reply

    • remlap says:

      08:57am | 05/07/11

      “Rather than engage Gallop”
      I, for one, am sick to death of push-polling and poll driven policy. I think it is ironic that people whinge when they do it and whinge when they don’t. Makes me think your preference is for good whinge.

    • Ando says:

      10:40am | 05/07/11

      Remlap,
      Stop whinging, Macca is spot on. What poll are you referring to by the way, Wilkie is the only one that Labor “polled” on the issue

    • ALP, please meet the kettle says:

      08:34am | 05/07/11

      Doesn’t the ALP gets Donations from the Clubs, I wonderi if the ALP refuses those donation because it?

      Doesn’t the ALP gets hundreds of thousands of donation from property developers and some ALP councils (Wollongong) had even been convicted of bribes? How about the kids of those developers?

      Doesn’t the ALP gets massive donations from unions? Who takes money from members, who struggles everyday to put food on the table? How about those kids

      Clueless ALP

      Reply

    • Al says:

      08:59am | 05/07/11

      Agree with u Jenny, also the clubs use of young sportspeople in their pokie ads is shameful. They try and make the case that clubs couldn’t exist without these things ... which may now be true but does not need to be and was not always so.

      Restructure the clubs industry to be viable through other more diverse revenue streams. Its ridiculous they are so dependent on them. (Governments i might add would surely not be as dependent on them or drinks/ciggies excise as a percentage of total revenue, compared to the clubs so some of the above posts are absurd in their comparisons.)

      Reply

    • Gerry says:

      09:18am | 05/07/11

      This isn’t even a Labor agenda it’s a Wilkie agenda. That’s what is really absurd!

    • Al says:

      09:48am | 05/07/11

      and good on Wilkie for that, the clubs do not need to be commercially structured the way they are. Its something that has evolved over time. They’re more casino than community club these days. Wilkie is doing them (and the rest of us) a favour if all concerned have the gumption to follow through. My fear is the ALP will not.

    • Tim says:

      09:13am | 05/07/11

      How can anyone think pokie reform is a bad thing?
      No offence to the clubs, but when you’re making so much money that your club is large enough for its own postcode, that’s probably too much. The ALP would never have done this without Wilkie’s insistance, but that doesn’t make it a bad thing.
      Just set the maximum bet on every machine to $1 per spin and you will wipe out problem gambling in one swipe without harming anyone else. When people start marching in the street demanding their right to lose $1000/hr on poker machines, then I might think Wilkie’s wrong.

      Reply

    • Scott Neylon says:

      10:37am | 05/07/11

      Tim, what’s the point of the ‘reform’ if it doesnt reduce problem gambling. there have been dozens of examples in the media of problem gamblers saying bet licenses wouldn’t help them. there are also counsellors and gambling researchers as well. A host of them went public on 4 Corners two weeks back. I’m tired of seeing the government defend the policies of the greens and independants.

    • Tim says:

      12:33pm | 05/07/11

      I watched that 4corners and it shows the reforms aren’t perfect, but they’re a hell of a lot better than what we have now. I don’t see any need for high intensity machines with pre commitment. Just reconfigure all existing machines to a lowe bet limit. No ‘average punter’ is going to cry because they can’t bet $90 a spin.

      Alternatively, if they clubs say there is no problem gambling and it’s all Wilkie propaganda, then let them regulate themselves. But on the proviso that if someone becomes addicted to pokies in their club, they have the right to sue the club for their losses.

    • Bilby says:

      09:47am | 05/07/11

      As someone who’s been part of building a very successful JAFL club deep in rugby league territory with nothing more than community support, I know that it can be done without pokie money. I know that if you build something with a strong culture that people respect, they’ll willingly part with their hard earned. Perhaps junior league should work on that theory a little rather than the mind blowing (from where I sit) entitlement complexes that seem to abound.

      Reply

    • Blind Freddy says:

      10:15am | 05/07/11

      It’s the same argument that was used by the tobacco lobby when tobacco companies were banned from sponsoring sporting organisations. It’s dirty money- and a self respecting organisation, that claims to have community interests at heart, would have nothing to do with it.

      There must be other mental afflictions and disabilities that the clubs could exploit.

      Reply

    • Matt F says:

      10:26am | 05/07/11

      from what i understand of the issue, anyone who plays the pokies will be able to set their own limit. So one would assume that an average punter who doesn’t have a gambling issue (i.e. one who knows how much they can afford to gamble and only gambles that amount) won’t be affected at all. if that’s truly the case then i don’t have an issue with it.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      10:58am | 05/07/11

      Matt,
      what’s the point in it then?
      The problem gamblers can set any limit they want too.
      It’s simply a first step in control. At first you will be able to set any limit you want, then the government will impose a limit and then the government will try to ban it.
      What’s to stop them doing the same thing to alcohol or gambling on horses or anything else that takes their fancy.
      That’s not even to start on the privacy issues and the total unworkable nature of the scheme. Problem gamblers will find ways around it and the only people who will be affected are your average person with no problem.

    • Matt F says:

      01:02pm | 05/07/11

      Tim - The issue most problem gamblers have is that they do initially set a limit. It’s just that when they reach it they can’t stop trying to win it back and eventually run out of cash. There are very few out there who deliberately set out to blow their pay cheque. They just can’s stop when they should. In these cases it should, in theory at least, have some sort of positive effect.

      For what it’s worth I’m against any attempt to them setting a fixed limit, simply because there isn’t a set amount before someone has a problem. You have a problem when you gamble more then you can afford to. If someone earning $60k p/a gambles $500 a week they most likely have a probem. Not so if the person earns $600k.

    • Harquebus says:

      10:47am | 05/07/11

      Indoctrinated your children to regimented sport where, they don’t have to think, is nothing to proud of. The Labor Party’s continual erosion of our liberties is utterly disgusting.
      Any business or government that relies on pokies for survival is a leach.
      Just ban them. Flash jokes allowed.

      Reply

    • Bilby says:

      04:06pm | 05/07/11

      I found an excellent flash video that will assist you in learning to speak English properly. Clearly you haven’t seen it as that first sentence is outstanding!!

    • Harquebus says:

      10:02am | 06/07/11

      It’s only after they are posted that I see my mistakes. Dunno why?

    • Denny Crane says:

      11:00am | 05/07/11

      This will have no effect on problem gamblers. It will effect those who like an occasional spin. It will affect the clubs, it will effect the junior league and all junior sport accross the country.

      This is stupid. It is a reflection on everything this moronic government has done. Taking a sledgehammer to kill an ant.

      I just wish there was some honesty but when you have a leader like Gillard who we know is lying as soon as she opens her mouth makes it hard for the rest of the government.

      Reply

    • jasperjen says:

      11:46am | 05/07/11

      I think I would rather see this country governed by a council of Wise Old Men than the current lot of do gooders, hell bent on upsetting every section of the community, It started with the mining sector, instead of being grateful that this industry saved us from the Global crisis,decided to reward them with a new big tax, then the carbon tax that should upset at least 50 percent of the people and just in case, lets upset the smokers and the pokie players oh while we are at it lets throw the Livestock Industry into caos. Listening to one of the new Green Senators prattle on last night look out Alcohol Industry you must be next on the list. Like the way of tobacco advertising and sport sponsership I see the same moves heading that way before long there will be no support for sport. More moves to increase the price of alcohol to try to reduce consumption I guess you can always use some of the carbon bribe money towards purchase this way Juliar gets it back. Not a smoker or drinker like a flutter on the pokies once a month when I visit the big smoke so will make sure I inflate my limit to at least 5 times more than I can afford, as I guess most gamblers will. God save me from the nannie State as Labor ,The Independants or the Greens wont. Oh so true pay peanuts you get monkeys we pay good money to support a parliament that consists of a lot of people I wont insult the word Politicians by calling them that. Most seem to be there driven by their own agendas.I am a woman and all for the advancement of women, we can do as good as and sometimes better than a lot of men. But to put them in Parliament to achieve a gender balance is pathetic when so many of them should still be at home cutting their partners lunch. If we want good politicians we have to be prepared to pay them, the brains of the Nation will never be in politics when private enterprise pays them so much more.What was that old saying “You can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time but you cant fool all of the people all of the time”  jester juliar

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      12:38pm | 05/07/11

      The mining tax was a brilliant idea. Anyone who bought the line ‘if you tax us we will leave the country’ is an idiot. It was Chinese demand for resources that got us through the GFC, not some noble generosity of the mining companies.

    • BMJ says:

      11:47am | 05/07/11

      What’s stupid is this country’s addiction to these mind numbing machines. Go to a pub/club and it’s just wave after wave of people having a tap. It’s a stupid obsession a significant part of the population is involved with.

      Reply

    • mick says:

      02:29pm | 05/07/11

      Has anyone noticed how much money has gone into fighting the poker machine issue.  Poor clubs indeed.  And then you have the likes of Steve Mortimer weighing in.  Lord help me I have supported the Berries (now Bulldogs) for a lifetime and need to reassess.
      The truth is that poker machines, like cigarrettes, like asbestos mines, are businesses in human misery.  Sure they plough money back into the community but then this is more tan likely to shore up the support of the public anyway.  The truth is that the victims are never just the problem gamblers.  Whole families are affected and this carries right through some peoples lives.
      Poker machines may be all right for a tipple but parting addicts from their life savings should be what it is, a CRIME.  Theft.
      I for one am taking as much notice of the Clubs propaganda campaign as I am of the cigarette campaign as I can see what these bad industries are trying to do.  Maybe Tony Abbott will do something for them….....imaybe Tony could call for yet another election on the back of good policy from the government.  Let the games continue!!

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      04:56pm | 05/07/11

      I’ve been hanging around the small ‘family’ suburban football clubs since the late 1970’s. Most of them still are small family clubs lucky to get 30 or 40 people watching a game. The kids still go to the shopping centres on Saturday to sell raffle tickets. Pies, chips, a bit of burnt steak or a sausage on bread is the best food you’ll get. A pittance of the millions upon millions the NRL, NSWRL, QRL makes ever gets down this end of the game. The clubs are still built on volunteer sweat and money. Fields marked, mowed, watered, secured, padding put on the posts etc all by unpaid volunteers.

      Not ‘pokie money’ going anywhere near here.

      Parents still foot the growing bills to get a kid on the paddock, even if the team is lucky enough to get a sponsor to buy the jerseys for a year. And the costs are growing at such a rate that participation isn’t growing as it should be proportional to population. Thank the insurance industry for that one.

      The ‘big’ clubs I see that have put pokies in have built facilities that have provided the community with plenty of services for entertainment etc that are now the primary focus of the clubs and provide a lot of employment as well. There are a hell of a lot more RSL Entertainment Mega-plexes (they ceased being actual Returned Servicemans Clubs years ago) making a lot more money off pokies than your average NRL club could dream of.

      Pokies are feeding one thing though: The growing number of corporate jobs running these places.

      Reply

    • Lesley Laurel says:

      05:58pm | 05/07/11

      Rugby league and aussie rules are nothing.
      Labor and the Greens are Number One

      Reply

    • Lesley Laurel says:

      06:07pm | 05/07/11

      When rugby League talks about Australia, it only means New South Wales And Queensland. Its interested in State Of Origin only.
      When Labor and the Greens, Our perfect excellent intelligent federal government,  talks about Australia , then its all six Australian States and two Australian Territories. They are interested in the State Of The Nation!
      Your comment:

      Reply

    • Tez says:

      09:15pm | 05/07/11

      Doesn’t matter how it comes about, William it needs to be done. good on you Wilke!!!

      Reply
 
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