Pokies-led gambling on rise
The total net takings from gambling in the year 2004-2005 were $15.5 billion, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This was up from $13.8 billion four years earlier. The preferred form of gambling is in pokies, with takings now reaching $8.7 billion, or $1 billion more than in 2000-2001. Other major sources were off-course TAB takings ($2.1 billion), casino gambling ($2.6 billion) and lottery-style games ($1.4 billion). More than 68 per cent of the overall gambling happened in NSW and Victoria. Online gambling accounted for $114.3 million in takings from a gross turnover of $1.4 billion. The ABS, in its report Gambling Services, Australia, said casinos generated $3.3 billion in income during 2004-2005. The survey found 76,848 people were employed in the provisions of gambling services, with the majority in hospitality.
Clubs NSW spokesman Jeremy Bath said employment associated with clubs - 53,000 jobs directly in NSW - had actually declined slightly in the past two years due to high petrol prices and higher interest rates.
"There's no doubt the NSW clubs industry is facing significant financial challenges," he said.
But the big rise in takings worries South Australian No Pokies Independent MP Nick Xenophon.
"These latest figures make a mockery of state governments' so-called harm minimisation efforts," he said.
"They've now been exposed as largely window dressing rather than real reforms."
<< Home