Federal technicians will be in Canberra pokies clubs next week examining gaming machines in preparation for an ACT-wide trial of controversial pre-commitment technology.
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The Commonwealth has been negotiating for several weeks with ClubsACT after the peak pokies body volunteered to host a trial of the anti-problem gambling technology which the Federal Government wants to introduce around the nation.
At a meeting yesterday between the Canberra clubs and Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FHCSIA) officials, it was agreed to take the next step and hold a technical examination of the territory's machines.
The information gathered from an examination of a sample of poker machines around Canberra will then be used to calculate the costs of a six-month trial of pre-commitment - which will force gamblers to set limits on their losses before they start to play - in the capital's 55 poker machine venues.
ClubsACT chief executive Jeff House said that yesterday's meeting had achieved an agreement to take the next step towards a trial in Canberra.
''The Commonwealth is trying to get itself into a position where they can make a judgement about whether or not they want to commit themselves to a trial here,'' Mr House told The Canberra Times.
''The information they need in order to make that decision is what they're focusing on now and that's to do with the age-profile of the machines, club-based monitoring systems, essentially what would be required to get Canberra's machines ready for the trial.
''We're assisting in that, in getting some information to them.''
The Federal Government is under pressure from key Independent MP Andrew Wilkie on the pokies issue, with the Tasmanian threatening to withdraw his support for Julia Gillard if the reforms are not introduced by May next year.
But there has been a backlash against pre-commitment from clubs lobbies around Australia who argue that the plan will cost jobs and hurt community groups funded by pokies revenues.
Mr House said that calculations about the cost and technical requirements of a trial would have to be made before further progress was possible.
''They [FHCSIA] have got tech guys and those tech guys will be putting together a draft scope and the Commonwealth will look at it Canberra-wide and assess what it would cost to get those machines pre-commitment-ready and then extrapolate that across the jurisdiction,'' he said.
''That's so FHCSIA can provide Minister [Jenny] Macklin with a brief saying a trial in Canberra would cost between X and Y and then the minister could say that we can take the next step in the ongoing discussion.''
Mr House, who has made it a condition of a trial that all costs should be met by the Commonwealth, said that the federal officials had given him every indication that they were keen to push ahead with the experiment.
''They're not dragging the chain, there's certainly no doubt about that. But they are doing what they need to do to make a decision about whether a trial is in the realms of possibility, both in terms of technicalities and costs,'' he said. ''We're happy with the way things are progressing and they've said that we will continue to meet regularly.''